Maybe, This Time
by moon maiden of time
Summary: -sequel to Bye Bye Baby, HiroSuguru- In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?
1. Bye Bye Baby Remix

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** Yeah, no. Not at all.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **WOO. First chapter of the SEQUEL. Hope everyone likes! And remember, reviews equal love.

**Chapter 1: **Bye Bye Baby Remix

"_Heading off to purebred friends and happy ends and anything to prove I'm disloyal."_

Suguru opened his eyes. The ceiling above him was pale gold, mellow and calm. There was a chandelier, beautiful and intricate, but it was not lit by either electricity or candles. Instead the light was coming from—Suguru rolled a little, noting the soft feel of the bedspread—the rather large windows that overlooked a towering city.

There was a humph from across the room.

Ah, that explained everything. He had gotten familiar with that particular noise over his past year in New York. That meant it was Sybil he was dealing with and this room had to be her suite in the Waldorf-Astoria. But…how did he even get here?

He turned again. Sybil was sitting at a glossy table, a mirror tilted towards her face. Short grey hair curled around her sharp face, offsetting the slanted hazel eyes and edged cheekbones. She brought an eyeliner pencil up with one thin hand and it hovered at the corner of one eye. "I see you're awake, Suguru. There's no use hiding." She did not sound amused.

"'M not hiding," Suguru muttered into the duvet.

"Yeah right. And you weren't completely trashed last night." The pencil drew along one eyelid, ended up in a curve, and then went out with her gesturing at Suguru.

Suguru couldn't lie to her (or rather, he could and then she'd call him on it, as she had many times before; the side benefits of playing poker, she'd tell him), so he said nothing to that comment. Instead he asked, "How did I even get here? Last I remember I was at a club downtown…" He drew a hand over his face, feeling his head start to pound.

Sybil snorted. "Well, Romano called me to tell me that you were leaving the club, so I told him to just bring you back here." The pencil went back to her face, curved around the slant of her eye, and was placed onto the table by the mirror.

Suguru lifted his head enough to glare at her. "You set your bodyguard on me?"

She glared right back at him, twisting around in her seat to do so. "You ended up in the slums of the Bronx last week. I figured that having him tail you was better than getting a call at seven in the morning to pick you up because you're hung over and lost. Again."

Trying to bury himself in the bed, Suguru muttered, "You don't have to babysit me." Then, "That's only happened a few times anyway."

Sybil stood and shed her robe, revealing the elegant pantsuit beneath it. When she spoke her voice was tinged with resigned. "More than a few times," she corrected. "And apparently I have to babysit you. You seem intent on destroying yourself."

When he had come to the XMR Company in New York, he hadn't expected getting a manager of his own; he had thought he would be placed in a group and their manager would be his own. Instead he had gotten Sybil Cavanaugh, a sought after manager; XMR had assigned her to him because of his already pop star status from Bad Luck along with the idea that he'd be moving from group to group. She was an older woman and had a maternal streak that was only rivaled by her mile-wide mean streak. She was the one that usually spotted his boredom in whatever group he was playing for and switched him to another group before he even said anything. She had been his manager and friend for the year he had been in XMR—and she was the one who was usually pulling him away from his partying streak.

Sybil sighed and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed. Brushing his bangs away from his face in a motherly motion he had never received from his own mother, Sybil said quietly, "I try to help, but you keep going back to clubbing."

Her hand was cool and dry against his forehead, relieving some of the ache that was burning beneath his skin. "I need to do something. My work is boring, no matter what group you put me in. Clubbing keeps me distracted."

One perfectly plucked eyebrow went up. "And the drinking? And the one-night stands?"

"…Amusement," Suguru finally decided.

The strong fingers grabbed his chin and forced his gaze to her. "It's not amusing the morning after, now is it? No, no, it is not." She let go of his chin and leaned back from him. "Especially not for me." She leveled a glare at him. "You're going to be the death of me, boy."

Suguru grinned at her. "That's the whole point of me being at XMR, isn't it?"

A smile cracked through the glare and she stood, ruffling his hair. "Maybe you should head back to NG then," she said jokingly.

Suguru turned away from her, the thought clanging about in his already pained head.

Sybil rolled her eyes, bent down, and pressed a light kiss to his cheek. "Stay as long as you like, boy-o. Here and at XMR." She straightened, eyeing him skeptically. "Especially at XMR. Because god knows that if you face whatever you're running from, you're just going to _die_."

Hiding his face in the covers again, Suguru muttered, "'M not running from anything."

Another familiar humph. "Yeah. Sure. And I'm the queen of Sheba." Another fond hair-ruffle and then the click of heels on the floor as she walked away.

Suguru rolled over once more, keeping his eyes on the pale gold ceiling. Go back to NG Studio? Go back to Bad Luck? Go back to…

No, he couldn't go back. Not when dark eyes and dark hair and an easy smile and laugh continued to haunt him so. Head pounding, Suguru turned so his face was buried in the darkness of the soft pillows.

* * *

Hiro leaned in the back of the seat and watched as...Karin—no, Karin had been from a few weeks ago—so Hana—maybe Haruka?—oh, whoever she was threw yet another fit. Shuichi leaned away from her with wide eyes and threw an almost frightened look at Hiro.

K scowled at the screaming girl and tried to calm her—without a gun because when he had first aimed the gun at them, a normal occurrence, she had burst into terrified tears.

Hiro leaned over to Shuichi. "Another one gone?" he murmured quietly.

Shuichi nodded, eyes still on the whining princess. "Thankfully." Now he looked over to Hiro, a smile on his face. "I wonder who Tohma will send us now." The purple gaze went hazy and unfocused. "Maybe someone not completely crazy," he said dreamily.

Hiro laughed lightly. "Yeah, like that will happen. Everyone here is completely crazy." They watched as K lost all patience, whipped out his Magnum, and aimed it at the girl. Her diatribe cut off into horrified shrieks; then she turned and ran as fast as she could out of the conference room. Looking vaguely lost, K holstered his gun and turned to Sakano. A whispered conversation ensued, Sakano growing paler and paler as they talked.

"Maybe we'll get someone who can actually write good compositions," Shuichi said.

Hiro drummed his fingers and looked away.

Shuichi didn't notice and continued talking anyway. "I mean, it's been a year since Fujisaki left, but we haven't been able to able to top any of our old songs." He made a face. "I mean, we knew Fujisaki was good, especially since he's related to Tohma, but nobody we've had can write compositions like he could."

Taking in a deep breath, Hiro evenly said, "Yeah, but he's working for XMR Company. In America. We've been over this."

"I know," Shuichi agreed. "It just sucks. Out of all the people we've had, he's the best composer for Bad Luck. I still think we should just go to America and steal him back."

Hiro tried for a laugh. "That's not a good idea and we know it."

Shuichi flopped onto the table and pouted. "So? We can still try it."

"No, Shuichi. It's been a year…just get used to it." Like he should be saying that.

Knowing the truth, Shuichi narrowed his eyes. "Sure, Hiro."

Sakano clearing his throat interrupted their conversation. "Since we don't have a keyboardist—"

"For the fifth millionth time," Shuichi dramatized.

"I'll have to go to Sacho-sama and tell him so. He said that if Haruna-san didn't work out, then he had a keyboardist in mind for us." He adjusted his glasses. "We'll just end today's session now, I suppose."

As Hiro started packing up his stuff and K and Sakano left, Shuichi groaned and complained. "I bet Tohma has had somebody in mind for a while now and he's just been holding out! That would be like him, wouldn't it? Why couldn't he have just told us about this keyboardist before all of the completely crazy people?"

Hiro laughed a little. "This has to be a last resort of some sort, you know that."

Sighing dramatically, Shuichi followed as Hiro walked out of the room. "I guess. Still, it's such a pain, going through all these people only to find that they won't work with us."

As they exited the NG Studio building, Shuichi turned to Hiro. "Hey, you want to go and get dinner or something."

Hiro paused. "Nah. Go be with Yuki or whatever you're doing tonight."

Shuichi grin's was suddenly megawatt bright. He gave Hiro a fierce hug and took off, yelling, "See you later!" behind his shoulder.

Hiro watched his friend run away and sighed lightly. He was in his early twenties; he should have been living it up and having fun, yet his plans for the night were just going home, calling Ayaka, and then going to sleep.

He rode his motorbike to his place, dropping his things by the doorway, went to the phone, and dialed Ayaka's number. Phone ringing, he leaned against the wall and waited.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ayaka. It's Hiro."

They started talking, the conversation revolving mainly around Ayaka's schooling, Kojiro (who was now Ayaka's boyfriend), and Shuichi. Hesitantly, Hiro broached about how they lost yet another keyboardist.

Ayaka was suspiciously silent. Then, "How are you doing, Hiro?"

He wanted to laugh it off, pretend that he had no idea what she was talking about with such a vague question, but they had had this conversation too many times to do that. "Fine," he offered. "He's been gone for a year now, so I'm…fine."

"Uh huh." She didn't sound convinced. "Meet anybody yet?" A pause. "I mean, since it has been so long…"

"No, I haven't. I just…" He should have been trying to leave the memory of what he had with Suguru behind. It was, after all, completely unrequited and Suguru was _gone_. He had been able to get over Ayaka easily enough even though they had an actual relationship, so why couldn't he just let it go?

Ayaka sighed quietly. "It's okay, Hiro. You don't have to explain to me. I just think that maybe…just maybe you should try to move forward with your life."

"You've told me that before," he informed her dryly.

"I know, but I ask if you met anybody every time we talk and each time you say you haven't, all because of a guy that doesn't love you and has been living in America for a year."

Hiro winced but said nothing. She was right, after all.

"I'm sorry, Hiro," she murmured. "It's just…you always sound so hurt when you talk about him and time has passed and you've always said that it's unrequited…" Her words trailed off.

"Yeah, I know." He fought to breathe around the lump in his throat. "Look, Ayaka, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"…Sure, Hiro. Bye." And then the dial tone.

Hiro pushed off the wall, hung up the phone, and trudged to his bed. Sleep was a welcome reprieve.


	2. The House Wins

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** Me, actually own something? No, not at all.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **Okay, yeah. Here's more stuff. Stuff about Suguru. Please review.

**Chapter 2: **The House Wins

"…_only one result has trickled in…"_

Suguru looked at the breakfast in front of him and felt his stomach do a lazy roll. Oh, god, he was going to throw up. He pushed the cereal around in its bowl for a few minutes, trying to convince himself that going to work without breakfast was a bad idea. However, when he swallowed and tasted the acid of bile at the back of his throat, he knew that eating and then throwing-up at work was an even worse idea. With this thought, Suguru pushed his breakfast away and leaned his head on the table.

Actually, he deserved this. This was what happened when he went out at night clubbing. Although, he had woken up in his apartment somehow, so apparently Romano, Sybil's bodyguard/his sometimes babysitter, hadn't been set to trail him last night. (Though the downside of this was that he was missing a shoe and had found stains on his shirt; he wasn't quite sure what the stains were.)

A few minutes passed quietly as he tried to soak the chill from the tabletop into his skin. Then, a few feet away from him, his cell phone shrilled at him. Groaning, Suguru flapped his hand at his phone and pulled it to him. Hopefully, it would only be Sybil to bitch him out about something or other and not one of his band mates. They would laugh and holler at him for his late night, whereas Sybil's voice would be at an appropriate decibel.

Without looking at the screen, he flipped the cell open. "'Lo?" he murmured groggily.

"Good morning, Suguru," Tohma Seguchi said in clear Japanese.

Effortlessly switching to his native language, Suguru muttered, "I hate you Tohma. You're not supposed to call this early."

Tohma laughed lightly in response, though there was a false undercurrent to it that Suguru could easily detect. "Cousin mine, have you been out drinking again?" And there was the sharp coldness that so regulated their conversations of late.

"What would you have to say if I were?" Suguru asked and tried to ignore the pounding in his head.

Tohma sighed. "Well, neither of your parents would be happy to hear of it. They believe you are in America to make a name for yourself, not to gain new vices."

"Who's to say they're new vices?" Suguru grumbled. "And they could care less, as long as I do not dishonor them. Considering I haven't shown up in any of the stupid tabloids—"

Tohma cut in ruthlessly. "You are bound to, if what Ms. Cavanaugh tells me is true."

Suguru rubbed at his eyes tiredly. Damn, they were conspiring against him. "I won't," he replied.

He could almost see Tohma's frown. "Suguru, you must stop now."

"Sure," he agreed easily, not meaning it at all.

Silence was his answer, thick and tense, which meant Tohma had made out the words for what they were and did not like them one bit. Then, unexpectedly, the tension gave way. Tohma cheerily said, "It doesn't matter anyway."

What? After all the conversation where Tohma had hounded him about his drinking (told to him by Sybil), his partying (also told to him by Sybil), his inability to get along with his band mates, no matter who they were (probably in XMR's annual reports on him to Tohma, which, supposedly, had been part of the initial agreement of his transfer), his refusal to talk to his parents, and now Tohma was acting _nice_? Something was wrong.

"Why doesn't it matter?" Suguru asked warily. Tohma had to be planning something, now the thing was just to figure out exactly what the plan was…

"You're coming home," and there was such a tone of certainty to it that Suguru was momentarily silenced.

Suguru's hand clenched tightly around his phone. "…What?" he asked lowly.

"You're coming home," Tohma repeated. "Your contract with XMR has been terminated and NG Studios has renewed your contract with Bad Luck."

Heart thudding, Suguru tried to ignore _those_ words. Bad Luck was still a success, glitzy magazines still showing their pictures, Shuichi at his mic, Hiroshi at his guitar, a random person hiding in the background with _his_ keyboard. Sometimes, someone would see him and recognize him and mention Bad Luck, but he just smiled a little and moved the conversation elsewhere or, if it was a fan, simply walked away. If it were Sybil, he wouldn't just walk; he'd run. (She had sniffed out he was running from something that was in Japan, and she had sussed out that it had something to do with his old band, but she could never figure out what it was exactly. This caused her to pry ruthlessly in the efforts to get him to face whatever it was.)

"…What do you mean 'renew'?" His voice was hoarse, but he was still making coherent sentences, which was a plus.

"You're coming back to Bad Luck, Suguru. You're coming back to NG. There's a flight already scheduled—"

"No, I'm not coming back," Suguru interrupted hotly. "I'm a part of XMR." Then, "And why would I even join Bad Luck again?"

Tohma's sigh was edged with frustration. "Your contract with XMR is terminated. Bad Luck has not reached the top ten ever since you left." A pause as Tohma let him digest this and swallow back whatever anger he had. "As I said there's a flight scheduled for Wednesday," which was two days away. "Ms. Cavanaugh should have all your information."

Another pause where Suguru was so blindingly angry that he simply couldn't say anything. When he finally did, it was, "And my parents?" The words were choked and barely coherent.

"They wish to see you. As you've become self-sufficient and 'left the nest,' so to speak, they believe that you've earned your place within their home."

"Until they start complaining about something else," Suguru mumbled.

Tohma let it slide, aware of the truth of the statement. Instead he said, "Get the information from Ms. Cavanaugh. Get packed. You leave in two days. I'll have K pick you up at the airport."

"So I won't get mobbed?" Suguru spat angrily in lieu of anything else.

"Yes, actually. Bad Luck fans have been hoping for your return since you left. See you in a few days," Tohma said cheerily and then hung up before Suguru could add anything else.

Pulling the cell phone away, Suguru regarded it blankly. He…he was going back to Japan.

…He needed to go find Sybil and talk to her.

* * *

Suguru strode into Sybil's office without knocking. On the phone she looked up at him and scowled. She held up one finger, brought the phone a little closer to her ear, and continued with her conversation. Still angry as hell, Suguru paced back and forth, ignoring the looks Sybil was throwing him.

When she finally did hang up the phone and look at him, he turned on her with a glare. "I'm being sold back to NG?"

Sybil rolled her eyes. "You're not being sold anywhere. You're just being…transferred. Again." She gave him a syrupy-sweet smile.

"Back to Japan?" he asked incredulously.

Scowling once more, she pointed one manicured finger at him. "Stop the shrieking, you prima donna. Your contract with XMR was terminated due to some small loophole and, because of that, NG has your contract once more."

Suguru sat heavily in one of the seats in front of her desk, hiding his face in his hands. "Is there no way to stop it?"

Sybil leaned forward and sighed. "You can duke it out with Seguchi, but there's nothing XMR can do about it." Eyeing him, she meanly added, "And you can face whatever you're running from."

Suguru groaned. Finally, he lifted his head and quietly said, "I don't want to go back."

Standing, Sybil made her way around the desk to crouch by Suguru. "You can try running, but you know your cousin. He'll hunt you down and get you back to NG if he wants you to be there."

He let out a humorless chuckle. "That's the issue. He's looking out for my parents and for Bad Luck. If it were up to him, he'd let me stay here."

Sybil patted his hand.

Silent, they stayed that way for a few moments.

Then Suguru moved, creakily, and muttered, "Tohma said you have my flight tickets."

Sybil stood again and moved back over to her desk. "He sent you a whole packet." She tossed him said package; Suguru caught it and stared blankly at it.

Another sigh and Sybil said, "Go get packing, Suguru. I'll tell the band that you're being transferred."

Suguru stood and walked slowly out of her office, tossing over his shoulder, "As if they actually care." The door slammed behind him.

* * *

K walked into the conference room whistling. Sakano soon followed him, actually looking happy for once.

Hiro traded a glance with Shuichi. Did this mean they actually had a good keyboardist? Or had K simply murdered someone and Sakano had cracked in the bloody aftermath?

Standing before them, K shouted, "Good news!" in English.

Sakano smiled and said, "We, ah, we have a keyboardist."

Shuichi positively sparkled and jumped up. "Oh, who is it, who is it, who is it?"

Sakano cleared his throat. "Fujisaki-san is coming back from XMR."

The bottom of Hiro's stomach dropped out as Shuichi frowned and said, "I thought he was staying in America. He's the one who left Bad Luck in the first place!"

"Yes, he did," Sakano continued, looking down at the files in his hands. "But he's transferring back." Sakano looked back up at them. "He'll be here in three days. And then we'll start work on the new album."

K pulled out his gun from his holster and twirled it. "So, you two have break for the next two days!" Laughing maniacally, he left the room. Sakano eyed the path of the crazy American, sighed despondently, and then followed.

Shuichi dropped back into his seat. "I can't believe him! He leaves Bad Luck and then he comes back! What's wrong with him?" He fumed ineffectually for a few moments before brightening. "Hiro, hey, I'm going to go to Yuki's."

Hiro silently waved his friend off and continued to sit. Suguru was coming back to Bad Luck. He left NG Studios and walked aimlessly. Finally, he sat down a bench and called Ayaka.

"Hi, Hiro," she answered cheerily.

"Hey, Ayaka. Am…am I interrupting anything?" he asked.

There was the sound of shuffling in the background, but she answered, "No, Hiro. Why?" Suddenly, alarm filled her voice. "Is something wrong?"

"Not really, it's just…" He wanted to slap himself; he was acting so ridiculous.

"Just?" she prompted curiously.

"Suguru's coming back to Bad Luck," he forced out quickly.

"Oh," she sighed. "You're…you're not over him at all," she clarified.

"No," he agreed. "And I was the one who broke it off. And…" how he wanted Suguru back at his side. But he didn't say it.

Ayaka's voice was suddenly firm and businesslike. "Either you admit it to him or you let go. If you have to choose one."

"Yeah, I know," he said quietly, but the words didn't quite want to come out. He wanted Suguru by his side, wanted Suguru laughing with him, playing music with him, smiling with him, in his bed, happy and beautiful, just as he had been. "I'll have to think about it." Although there really was no question about it. He was in love with Fujisaki Suguru, in a way he hadn't been with Ayaka, and it would take more than some rebound to get over him. But…admit it? There was no way he could do that either.

"I just needed to tell someone," he told her. "Thanks, Ayaka."

"It's okay," she said softly. "And you know if you need to talk…I'll try not to be as…patronizing as I've been lately."

He gave a small laugh. "Alright. Thanks." He glanced around at the empty street. "Look, Ayaka, I need to go, alright?"

"Yeah. Bye, Hiro."

"Bye," he answered and hung up. Then he leaned back in the bench and stared at the colors of the leaves until they were imprinted on the backs of his eyelids.


	3. Return

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** Yes, I do own this, because I am secretly Murakami! …Okay, no, I'm not, so I don't own.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **I love all of you, did you know that? And curses, I want to keep writing this in present tense.

**Chapter 3: **Return

"…_even memories of that are all thick and dull, all gravel and glass."_

Sybil leaned back in the seat. "You know I could have just made Romano take you?"

Suguru raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, but you know that you would have regretted it." Expression haughty, Sybil nonchalantly reached out and pulled Suguru into a headlock, ruffling his hair. Suguru let out a vaguely offended squeak and fought against her, trying to pull away futilely. When he did finally get out of her reach, he ran his fingers through his hair and scowled at her. "Oh, how much I'm going to miss you."

"Course you will, boy-o." She leaned back once more and crossed her arms. "You're going to have to deal with Ice-man Seguchi once more, so you get to have that fun. No more of my shining smile."

"You mean 'shining glare'," Suguru corrected.

Rolling her eyes, Sybil leaned out and swatted him. "So, since you're leaving and everything, are you finally going to tell me what you were running from the whole time?"

Suguru slouched in his place, glancing away from her. For a moment he simply bit at his lip instead of answering her. Then he muttered, "There was a guy and I was in love with him. We got together for a little bit and then he broke up with me. He said he didn't love me." Still avoiding her eyes, he shrugged his shoulders.

Sybil just stared at him for a moment. Then, "…Wait, so did you actually ever tell him you loved him?"

Suguru twitched and sunk lower in his place. "…No," he muttered sulkily.

"And let me guess: you're not over him at all, are you? Despite the one night stands and all the guys?"

Suguru let out a little, humorless laugh. "No, I'm not over him. I was planning on staying in America for a long, long time."

Suddenly, Sybil straightened and frowned at him. "It's not one of your band mates, is it?" When Suguru said nothing, she groaned. "I can't believe it." Another moment and then she said, "It can't be the cute singer, can it? I hear Reiji moaning all the time about he's still with that writer. So, it has to be the other one—the guitarist, right?"

Suguru nodded. "Hiroshi Nakano," he murmured quietly.

There was a moment of silence. Then Sybil asked, "So, is he good in bed?"

Surprised by the question, Suguru laughed. "Yeah," he said between laughs. "He was, I'll give him that. But…the whole thing was rebound to him, from his ex-girlfriend. And I never said anything to him." Giving Sybil a wan smile, he shrugged, the slightest lift of his shoulders. "After the break I was just going to try to get through it at NG, but it was worse than I had thought and my parents had been bitching about me transferring anyway…"

Sybil's expression was understanding. "Heartbreak is always worse than you think."

"Anything to help it?"

"Just time, boy-o. Nothing but time."

The car suddenly stopped. There was the sound of a door slamming and then the door close to Sybil. "We're at the airport, Ms. Cavanaugh," Romano said. Sybil stepped out of the car, Suguru sliding out after her. Romano was a hulking, bald man with a pair of black sunglasses that he always seemed to wear to go along with his eternal black suit. "I'll get the luggage from the back," he informed them and then disappeared around the back of the car.

Sybil turned to him and sighed. "Well, I guess this is it. You'll keep in touch, won't you?" Watching the groups of people pushing past them, Suguru nodded. Romano came back towards them and set down Suguru's bags. With a sigh Sybil looked at the bags and said, "The rest of your stuff should arrive at your place in Japan within a few weeks. Do you have your tickets?"

Suguru pulled out the package Tohma had sent and waved it. "Yeah."

Sybil wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. They were almost the same height, her grey hair tickling his nose, and she had the light scent of flowery perfume against her clothes. She let go of him, pressed a light kiss to his cheek, and then slid back into the car.

Romano shut the door behind her. "Do you need help carrying your bags, Mr. Fujisaki?"

"No." Suguru smiled a little at the large security man. "Thanks, for all the times you've helped me back to the apartment or the hotel." And then, "And thanks for not shooting me. At all. Ever."

With placid calm Romano dipped his head and replied, "You're welcome, Mr. Fujisaki. Have a nice flight." And then, with a small smile to him, Romano went back to the driver's seat; the car slowly drove away from him.

Suguru pulled his bags behind him, carefully walking through the masses of people. He checked his bags in at the desk and then walked quietly to his boarding gate, his carry-on backpack tugged over one shoulder.

He sat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs at the gate and pulled out the package Tohma had sent. He first found his tickets and tucked them into his pocket; he had expected more information about his flight, but instead there was a typed up sheet about Bad Luck and the line of keyboardists the group had over the year.

With a lump in his throat, he looked over the list, seeing which songs matched up to which person and how that particular album fared in the charts. None of them seemed like particularly good songs, if the charts meant anything, and the numbers just kept getting worse as the list went on.

The last things in the package were Bad Luck's CDs. Suguru traced over the happy smiles. It was too bad his laptop was in its case in one of his bags along with his old portable CD player. But, maybe when he was home…

Stuck in the airport, bored out of his mind, and doomed to go home whether he wanted to or not (because even if he tried to run, Tohma would fucking hunt him down because he was Seguchi Tohma and Bad Luck was part of his company), Suguru admitted that, deep down, he really was glad to be going back to Japan.

* * *

Hiro pushed his noodles around and watched as Shuichi guzzled down his drink. The can was slammed down on the counter as Shuichi gasped for breath. Then his friend turned to him with a large grin, "Hey, hey, Hiro, so what do you think about Fujisaki coming back to Bad Luck?"

Hiro pushed down his initial surge of emotion and calmly said, "Well, he won't fly completely off the handle like most of the people we've had. And he can compose well."

Shuichi stood, one foot on his stool, the other on the counter. The man behind the counter glared darkly at them, but he was waved down by another group. He pointed at the sky triumphantly. "And we'll be back at the top!"

Sighing, Hiro didn't even try to drag his friend down from the counter. After another minute or so of triumphant posturing, Shuichi sat back down. "But what about you?"

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Shuichi frowned at him. "I mean, you two were a thing. Do you think it'll be awkward?"

Awkward? Being just a "thing" and having Suguru come back would have been the slightest bit awkward. Having been a "thing" and then having realized his unrequited love after they stopped being a "thing" and Suguru left…

"I don't think it'll be awkward at all," Hiro lied. "We were friends before everything, so I think we'll be just fine."

Shuichi made a face. "You better. I mean, Suguru has to be glad to be coming back to Bad Luck. All those other bands he had to deal with probably sucked."

Hiro's slight laugh was genuine. "Maybe. Suguru's really professional, so he probably got along with all of them though."

Rolling his eyes, Shuichi replied, "He probably scared them all into being professional with that scary Tohma-face he has."

"Tohma-face?"

"Yes, when he looks and acts like Tohma." A pause. "When he acts like a cold bastard, just like Tohma."

"Of course Shuichi."

"But we're better than any of the other bands." There was another pause. A shiver trembled up Hiro's spine and he eyed his friend warily. It meant impending doom. "Hey, Hiro?"

Oh, hell. "Yes?"

"Do you think you'll get back together with Suguru when he gets back?"

Hiro nearly choked on air at the question, but he somehow regained his bearings. "Uh…I'm not sure, Shuichi. It's possible that Suguru's changed in the past year. Or maybe he found someone in America."

Shuichi idly rolled the empty can. "Yeah, but if he didn't? Would you want to?"

Taking in a deep breath, Hiro pondered. He already knew the answer. He would go back to Suguru…but this time, it wouldn't be just for sex. He would try… Shaking his head, Hiro said, "It's not about whether I would or not. It would all depend on him."

Shuichi eyed him for a moment and then shrugged. He moved on to other topics and Hiro tried to ignore the trembling butterflies in his stomach that anticipated tomorrow. His ignoring didn't work.

* * *

Suguru stepped out of the plane with a sigh. It really had been much too long for a flight. And it was only the afternoon in Tokyo, so he still had a few hours to get through. He passed people quietly, slipping through them without issue. Then a large hand clapped him on the shoulder and spun him around.

"Welcome home!" K exclaimed in cheery English.

Suguru's mouth twitched up in a slight smile. "You know," he replied, in English, "since I spent a year living in America, I'll have a much easier time understanding what you say."

K laughed. "That's what you think," he said in Japanese. "Now, come on Fujisaki-san, we need to get your bags." K pushed through the people easily, his broader frame causing people to move around him. They collected Suguru's bags and left the airport in a compact car that K was driving.

As they took off at frightening speeds, Suguru braced himself. "And, you know, your driving isn't so scary after driving in a New York taxi."

K frowned at him. "You actually took one of those?" And then he took a sharp turn, completely ignoring the cars that missed hitting them by mere inches.

"Only a few times," Suguru said.

Then K wove around slower cars, their speed still dangerously high. "How was New York and working at XMR?"

"Well, nobody shot me," Suguru muttered. K laughed merrily at this. "The bands were boring, but everyone else was interesting."

"That sounds right," K said loudly over the pained screams and exploding crashes that were occurring outside their car. "Glad to be back?"

Suguru paused, eyes on the destruction K was causing. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked contemplatively.

"Good point," K laughed, but his blue eyes were cold and his smile sharp when he said this.

The car suddenly skidded to a stop. "Here you go. The Fujisaki household." Suguru stepped out of the car and pulled out his luggage. "Remember, you start work at eight tomorrow. Any later—"

"And you hunt me down, tranquilize me, and then drag me to the studio?"

K actually looked like he was thinking that over. "Close enough." He went back to the car and the poor, abused vehicle sped off.

Suguru dragged his bags behind him. The front door was unlocked, but the front foyer was empty. "Hello?" he called out, dragging his bags from the outside to the tiles of the hall.

There was the light patter of feet on tile. And then, "Welcome home, son," his father said, expression stern and cold.

His mother was still the frigid beauty she had been, but her icy expression broke for a slight, warm smile. "Welcome home, Suguru," she murmured. She actually looked pleased to see him.

Despite this, Suguru had to fight to keep his expression blank. "I'm glad to be home," he quietly said and shut the door behind him.


	4. Don't Ask Me

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** …I don't even draw. How could I own this unless I did?

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **And here, everybody, is the song/chapter that inspired this whole crazy thing. Love it. LOVE IT.

**Chapter 4: **Don't Ask Me

"_Quit acting so friendly. Don't nod, don't laugh all nicely. Don't think you'll upend me."_

Suguru left his house earlier than he would have usually. He had the stuff Tohma had given him (that list of all those people who tried to take his place and failed), the Bad Luck albums that had been produced while he had been gone (which, admittedly, were not the best stuff Bad Luck had ever done), and stuff with which he could write out notes or start composing. Maybe, with all that stuff and the calm he was trying to gather from his early walk, he would be able to handle his first meeting with Hiro in a year.

…It was worth a try, he figured, though his stomach was already jumping nervously about.

He got to NG Studios and hunted down the room Bad Luck was using, completely ignoring the coy smiles he got from the secretaries he asked. Eyes seemed to follow him as he walked through the building and it made his skin prickle, but he simply continued to ignore the attention. There, there was the room the secretary had named off. It was a simple little conference room and it would have absolutely nothing in it but the members of a band he had left behind. He opened the door…and it was like a punch to the stomach.

Shuichi was sprawled in one chair, feet kicked up onto the table. His hands were flailing about as he chattered on inanely about something or other, eyes bright and grin wide. His hair seemed a lighter shade of pink than before, but what did Suguru really know? Sakano was sitting a few chairs away from the singer, nodding to whatever Shuichi was saying and taking notes every few seconds on the papers in front of him. He was still the same prim and proper man from before, but now the grey in his hair was actually visible.

And then there was Hiro. His hair was longer than before, but his smile was still the same. However, he looked tired and there was something shadowed about his expression. Despite everything that had happened, despite the pain of heartbreak (or maybe because of it), Suguru just wanted to go over there and wash away whatever worries Hiro had; that desire was fierce, an almost physical need.

Sakano was the one that looked up to him. "Ah, Fujisaki-san," he said, a slight smile on his face. "It's a pleasure that you're rejoining Bad Luck once more."

"Good to see you too," Suguru murmured and hesitantly glanced over to his colleagues.

Shuichi looked just about ready to launch himself out of his chair. Hiro's smile was brighter, the shadowed expression vanished in the happiness present, a fact that made his face warm. K, however, choose just that moment to kick in the door and shoot. Out of pure conditioning, all three band members froze in their place.

The maniacal grin K wore widened when he saw Suguru. "Good thing that you're here, Fujisaki! We need to get going!" Gun cocked, K said, "Let's go you three, to the car! We have a slot at ten!"

Ushering them out with the threat of being shot, Sakano was the one who actually turned and said, "K-san, what are you talking about?"

"Television!" K shouted as they walked through the building, his gun shining threateningly in the light. "For the reunion of the true Bad Luck!" Sakano didn't even try to protest; he simply sighed and allowed them all to be pushed to the car.

Unfortunately, it was K that took the driver's seat, Sakano in the passenger's. The members of Bad Luck were pushed into the back seat, Suguru somehow getting wedged into the middle. As K sped away from NG Studios, Shuichi wrapped Suguru into a bone-crushing hug. "Fujisaki! How was America? You didn't get stuck with anybody crazy right?"

Suguru actually smiled at his idiot of a colleague. "I have all the crazy here. Nobody in America can beat it."

Shuichi laughed. "You should have seen some of the people we had to deal with. None of them were as good as you."

"Thanks. I listened to some of the stuff and…" Suguru paused, took in Shuichi's expectant expression. "The synthesizer work was…not good."

Shuichi blew out a sigh. "I know what you mean. Tohma would give us someone and they would just suck or be scared of K or something."

"Be scared of K?" Suguru's laugh was edging on insane. "Who would be like that?"

Snickering into his hand, Shuichi said, "Someone sane?" They laughed together, and it was as if they had somehow finally understood each other.

Then K did a crazy swerve and Suguru was thrown to the side—into Hiro. Hiro was broad and warm against him and it was so wonderfully familiar that Suguru didn't even want to move. However, he had to move. He tried to push away, but Hiro's hands were low on his back, holding him safe.

Suguru swallowed and looked up. "Hello, Hiroshi-san." There. Formality was a good thing; it would keep him distant.

There was the flash of a frown, but then a nervous smile was there, taking its place. "It's Hiro, Suguru. You know that." And, damn him, there were emotions in those dark eyes, keeping hold of Suguru.

Suguru pushed himself firmly away and got out of that enticing hold. "Of course, Hiroshi-san." The irritated look that graced Hiro's face soothed some still hurt part of him.

"So you liked working for XMR?" Hiro asked.

Suguru wanted to lie, see what saying he loved XMR and hated coming back to NG did to Hiro. Instead, he told the truth. "It was okay. The people were nice enough, but none could match the challenge of trying to decipher Shindou-san's scribbles."

Hiro grinned and it sent a flutter of warmth through Suguru. "Yeah, I know what you mean. The new people we got had no idea what to do when faced with that." He laughed, low under his breath.

K took another maniacal turn and Suguru was thrown once more into Hiro. They were so close; here Suguru could see every shade of dark brown in those expressive eyes, see the flicker of every passionate emotion in that face, see the curve of lush mouth. If he just leaned up the slightest bit…

Frantically, Suguru scrambled away from Hiro. He wasn't going to go down that road again. One broken heart was enough, wasn't it? Shouldn't he have learned his lesson?

The car screeched to a stop. K pulled them out of the car and dragged them into the building.

* * *

Hiro was pushed from the room into the hallway by the madly grinning make-up artist. Outside the door K rolled his eyes and pulled him down the hallway, Shuichi and Suguru following them. Sakano was still talking, going on about what exactly they could tell the interviewer "Just Call Me Aiko-san".

Subtly, Hiro tried to look behind him at Suguru. They had been doing well enough in the car; Suguru had been actually talking to him without any sort of qualm. And then Suguru had fallen against him and completely freaked, it seemed. Did Suguru just hate him that much? It seemed so, especially with how he was once more "Hiroshi-san". At least it wasn't Nakano-san anymore, he figured.

Aiko-san, a woman with dyed hair, way too much make-up, and a too-bright smile, pulled them from K. Grinning, K cocked his gun and held it high from offstage, Sakano sweating behind him. A few aides arranged them in the chairs next to Aiko-san's, a person made a few hand signals behind the camera, and then they were rolling.

Aiko-san smiled cheerily at the camera. "Good morning, Japan. Today I'm here with one of the most famous pop/rock groups of today: Bad Luck!" There was a swell of applause from the audience. Another fake, syrupy-sweet smile from Aiko-san. "And today we get to talk to the band about the loss and comeback of their synth-player, Fujisaki Suguru."

Hiro glanced over enough to see Suguru's paper-thin smile.

Lacing her fingers, Aiko-san shifted so she was facing them. It was Shuichi that was closest to her. "Shindou-san, what can you tell us about your past year without Fujisaki-san?"

Shuichi pulled a face. "The people we got to be the keyboardist were _crazy_." As Aiko-san's smile froze, there was a roll of laughter from the audience. "And they weren't as good as Fujisaki here."

Aiko-san gulped and licked her made-up lips. "As we can all see by your descent in the charts." She pulled a serious expression on, though it was very exaggerated. "Does a band really depend that much on a keyboardist?"

Appropriately, Shuichi looked horrified. "Of course. Everyone counts!" He pointed a finger triumphantly. "Everyone needs to work in a band or else it fails!" And, yep, he was standing, one arm akimbo, the other raised defiantly.

Aiko-san, the poor woman, twitched and let out a soft titter. "Of course," she repeated faintly. Then she turned her eyes to Hiro. "And you, Nakano-san? What do you say about that?"

As Shuichi glared at her, Hiro answered. "Well, Shuichi's right. Every part of a band needs to work together. A band is like a machine. One part fails and the product doesn't come out right."

Nodding, Aiko-san turned to Suguru. Hiro almost wanted to shake her from the predatory look she fixed on Suguru. "Fujisaki-san, what can you tell us about your leaving from Bad Luck a year ago? There are a lot of rumors out there…" and she trailed off with a slight giggle.

Suguru raised one eyebrow at her. He did not look pleased, and that made Hiro hold back laughter. "I was offered a transfer to XMR. It seemed like a good idea at the time." Suguru was skilled at this, offering the truth without really saying anything. He must have learned it from Tohma.

Aiko-san, however, looked frustrated. "What made you think it seemed like a good idea?"

Suguru's mouth tipped down in a frown. "Personal issues," he bit out and gave her a razor-sharp smile. Any laughter Hiro had died. Had…had the break-up had anything to do with those "personal issues"? Did Hiro have any chance at all at furthering anything with Suguru? Was friendship even a possibility anymore?

Aiko-san pursed her mouth and narrowed her eyes. "And why decide to come back to Bad Luck then?"

"XMR, while a good company, just wasn't right for me. Seguchi-san offered me my old position back and I accepted." Another thin-lipped smile from Suguru.

Aiko-san forced on a bright smile. "Of course." She turned her gaze back to the camera. "And that's all the time we have for today. Keep an eye out for Bad Luck's new music. Have a good day, Japan!" And people started moving and shouting as they stopped rolling.

The bright smile on Aiko-san's face died as she turned to Suguru. "'Personal issues'?" she hissed, stalking up to him.

Rage spun lightening quick through Hiro. Suguru took care of the problem however. "That was my answer," he said calmly. "It's none of your business why I left. It is none of Japan's business why I left. Deal with it."

Aiko-san looked ready to kill. She also looked ready to open her stupid mouth and say something else, but Hiro actually stepped forward. "He answered you, didn't he? Leave him alone."

Hiro caught the glance Suguru threw at him, but then people moved and Suguru disappeared. K sidled up to them, gun gleaming brightly under the studio lights. "Now, now, Aiko-san, we won't have a problem, will we?" The gun cocked and Aiko-san paled. She stuttered out apologies and quickly backed away, vanishing in the crowd.

K started ushering them away from the stage. Shuichi glanced around. "Hey," he called. "Where's Fujisaki?"

Hiro looked. Suguru was still gone. K twirled his gun. "Tohma was here to see the segment. He wanted to talk to Fujisaki, I think." There was a moment of panic, but Suguru was well-equipped to deal with his family. At least, Hiro hoped he was.


	5. Get Over It

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** I may own the few mangas I have, but I don't actually own _Gravitation_.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **This chapter was a bitch to write. There was no way to make it into one whole cohesive thing. Thanks, though, for the reviews, everybody! Remember, reviews are good for the soul. (Also, kept typing "Yuuji" as "Yuugi". I've been watching/reading way too much "Yu-Gi-Oh," apparently.)

**Chapter 5: **Get Over It

"_Love that perfect frown, honest eyes…"_

Suguru walked over to Tohma, idly wiping away the thick make-up the artists had forced on him with his shirt sleeve. Making a face at the resulting mess and rolling up his sleeves, he stopped by Tohma. "What did you think?" he asked.

Tohma tilted his head to the side, eyes on the pale, stuttering Aiko-san. "Hmm." One hand went up, curled under his chin. "Aiko-san needs to find a new…position within the industry, I believe. Something less…inquisitive." There was a pause as he watched Aiko-san retreat.

Suguru snorted. Of course. That was Seguchi Tohma all the way. No wonder he was so feared.

Tohma cut his eyes over to Suguru. "And how is Hiroshi-san taking your rejoining to the band?"

Refraining from twitching (a dead giveaway, as he had learned from Sybil), Suguru calmly said, "Well enough."

Those sharp eyes were still watching him. "And how are you taking it, cousin?"

He took in a deep, even breath and said, "Just fine. It's not as if I'm going to fall to pieces just because I'm working with Nakano-san again." Formality, that was a good sign, a sign that he definitely still was not in love with one Nakano Hiroshi…right?

Still, those calculating eyes were weighing each and every word. "Why would you?" Tohma asked softly. Then his gaze cut over to the people swarming around the stage and camera. "Let's get lunch," Tohma decided and then started walking away. Rolling his eyes, Suguru simply followed.

* * *

Hiro walked out of the building with Shuichi at his side. Shuichi was bouncing up and down, talking on and on about how they were on television and how cool it was and how Yuki was going to be super impressed. Smiling, Hiro rolled his eyes and listened to his friend's energetic rambling.

His smile died some when he glanced back at the communications building. Suguru had simply vanished with Tohma and really, he had no reason to worry but still… Tohma, even if Suguru talked kindly of him, was a cold bastard. A question from Shuichi brought him out of his reverie.

"I wonder what Fujisaki meant by personal issues." A pause as he looked contemplatively, surprisingly silent for a moment, out into the distance. "Do you think your break with him hurt him?"

Hiro tried to stop his wince, but he wasn't sure he really quite managed it. "I don't think so," he replied hesitantly, unsurely. "We were just good friends during the whole thing."

Shuichi frowned. "It's just strange…I mean, you guys were friends already and then you broke things off and then he left…"

Hiro swallowed down acid. There was no connection, he told himself. Suguru didn't love him. They had just been friends. "Well, truth is, Suguru told me he was having some issues with his parents. That could have been the personal issues he was talking about."

The frown got darker. "That's sad. I would think they'd be proud because he does so well at music and everything."

"It was something other than that, I think," Hiro replied softly. He and Suguru had never really sat down and talked about. After all Yuuji and Shuichi had started implying—rightly so, now that he saw—that he loved Suguru and he had freaked out about it.

"That really sucks," Shuichi said succinctly and then he was bouncing from subject to subject once more.

* * *

Suguru sighed and sipped at his tea. Now that their lunch plates had been taken from them, Tohma would go in for the kill. Suguru had been to enough family dinners to see it happen before; usually though, the tactics had been applied to others, as he and Tohma got along enough to hold actual conversations.

Tohma smiled politely and folded his fingers around his teacup. "Now, Suguru, you were just getting ready to tell me about how you're going to deal with Nakano."

The tea was earthy, but there was a hint of bitterness that landed on his tongue. There was no honey on the table with which to sweeten it. "There's nothing to deal with," he lied. "Hiroshi-san and I are going to be just fine."

Tap, tap, tap went Tohma's fingers against the dinnerware. "Even though you are still in love with him, cousin? I had suspected a professional relationship would be rather difficult to maintain considering those circumstances."

Damn it. There were two things he could do right now: deny and lie. "I'm not in love with Hiroshi-san," he told his teacup. He could see his frown reflected in the murky liquid; he did not look pleased at all. There was no way Tohma was going to buy it.

He was right. Tohma slanted him a look. "Why do you insist on lying?"

Cornered and faced with the one truth he hated at the moment, Suguru snapped, "Why do you insist on being obtuse and obstinate? I am not in love with Hiroshi-san." Tohma was going to kill him. "I spent a year in America and met many that swept away whatever emotions I ever held for Hiroshi-san."

Tohma was outright glaring now, eyebrows slanted together and mouth pursed in a thin frown. "You do the dishonor of lying to me still and insulting me, cousin. Is there a reason for it?" Tohma simply wasn't going to budge, was he, that pushy bastard?

Suguru instead focused on the delicate pattern outlining the rim of his teacup. It was cool and smooth beneath the pads of his fingers. "You remain fixed on your view, despite the fact that the truth has changed." Lie, lie, fucking lie; his fingers twitched against the cup, his one tell. "It is irritating that you do so, even though I have informed you otherwise."

Finally, the glare dropped, expression clearing away for blankness. "I apologize for not believing you." His eyes—dark, still searching, still weighing— belied his words.

Suguru breathed in the steam of his tea. He would have to accept this; there simply was no way to fight it. Lifting the teacup, he murmured, "It's alright."

Tohma waved the conversation away with the sweep of his hand and a change in topics—this time, the actual music of Bad Luck, not the relations between the band members.

He took a sip of his tea and swallowed down the bitterness.

* * *

When his phone rang, Hiro almost pushed it off the table. All day, he had been getting phone calls; the calls from his parents and Ayaka were appreciated. Calls from obscure family members and friends he hadn't talked to since high school were most definitely not. Instead of just flat-out ignoring it (since there was the off chance that it was something important), Hiro brought it towards him. Then he answered.

"Hey, Yuuji."

"Hi, bro! I saw that news thing you did today! Why didn't you tell me about that?" Whimpering the slightest bit, he sounded as if Hiro had fatally wounded him.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't know about it until this morning," Hiro answered, laughing lightly.

"Ah," Yuuji drawled out thoughtfully. "The crazy American manager strikes again."

"Strikes my sanity you mean."

"Please," Yuuji scoffed. "What sanity? You've had Shuichi as a friend forever and you've been working with this band for what—three years, now?"

"Yeah." Then, added defiantly, "There's also how I'm related to you."

"HEY," Yuuji barked playfully. Then his exuberance died. "You didn't tell me that kid was going to be back in the band."

The kid? Oh, Suguru. After Suguru had left, after Hiro had felt splintered into pieces, Yuuji had sat down and asked about everything. Hiro had explained and then had gotten smacked upside the head because of it. "You said you didn't love him, even though you did," Yuuji had bit out. "And don't tell me shit about denial, little bro." Then Yuuji had softened and had let Hiro just talk everything out.

"We just found out a few days ago," Hiro said. "I…" and then nothing because he still didn't have the words for it.

"You still love him," Yuuji declared bluntly. A pause and then, "Seduce him."

"…What?" Sometimes, when Hiro talked to his brother, it felt like his brains were leaking out of his ears—just sometimes though.

"You love him, so just seduce him. He'll love you back and then everything's good."

"I'm not going to seduce him," Hiro said. The idea was rather nice, but…

"Why not?" Yuuji sounded disbelieving.

"If he ever does love me, then I want it to be because _he_ does; not because I somehow seduced him into it."

Yuuji sighed. "You're such a soft heart sometimes, Hiro." The words did not sound like a compliment, but Yuuji's voice was soft. Then he was back to business. "So what are you going to do then?"

"I'm going to try to be his friend again." If he were lucky, that would go through without any problems.

"That's it?" Now, Yuuji sounded incredulous.

"Yes," Hiro said. He waited a moment and then asked, "Is that all you wanted to say to me?"

"No. Actually, I wanted to ask why that interviewer was such a bitch."

* * *

Later, after dealing with Tohma, Suguru went to a club. It was one of the clubs he used to go to so frequently, before getting involved with Hiro. And now…

Now, it was just like those clubs in New York. Before it had been nothing. Now, it was all about forgetting. The thumping music chased away any thoughts; the glitter and flashing lights blinded him. And the men—well, the men were for entertainment.

Sybil had learned of it and scolded him for it. Tohma had learned of it through Sybil and he hated it, always trying to dissuade him from going. Suguru could understand their sentiments. Sometimes, he would come from a club and he would feel tired—not just physically, but mentally, emotionally. Other times…well, other times he was too busy being preoccupied to care about anything else.

He knew he had work early in the morning—and god, K would kill him if he didn't show up on the second day. Despite this, he danced late into the night, washing away any and all worries, trying his damnedest to forget one Nakano Hiroshi.

Suguru pressed against one of the men circling him and let his hands roam. The man wasn't extremely handsome, no, but there was something about the darkness of his eyes and the shape of his mouth. Suguru smiled flirtatiously and felt absolutely wrong when the man grinned down at him. His hands went over the thick shoulders and curled around the corded neck. He stood on his toes, dragged the man down, and pressed that lush mouth to his.

The man and he found a dark corner to hide in. The man's hands were rough against his skin, his teeth sharp against Suguru's neck. In spite of the pounding music, the click of the teeth in the zipper was extremely loud, echoing in his ears, when it was undone. The man had to lift him high, shove him against the wall, so they fit properly, so the friction was just so. It…it was like that last time with Hiro, in the NG Studio's bathroom. Suguru pressed harder against the man and concentrated on the feel of sweat sliding down his back.

As he walked home, Suguru could feel the stickiness of sweat and other things, the bruise of invisible hands against his hips, the ache of a bite on his neck. Even with those reminders, the only thing he could think of was the soft touch of Hiro's hands on his back as K drove like a maniac and the warmth to his eyes when they talked.


	6. Do What You Want

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** Funny. I wish.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **Almost at the halfway point! And OMG THANKS EVERYBODY FOR ALL THE REVIEWS AND ALERTS AND WHATNOT.

**Chapter 6: **Do What You Want

"_Oh, something was wrong…"_

Suguru felt like dying the next morning. Only thoughts of K hunting him down like this and dragging him to the studio in only his pajamas pushed him out of bed. As he stumbled down to the kitchen for hopefully some coffee or tea, he saw Keiko-san bustling around. She waved to him, smiled at his dark scowl, and then continued her cleaning, wisely keeping out of his way. Scrubbing a hand through his hair (which really needed to be cleaned because it felt tacky from the sweat and glitter from the night before), he walked into the kitchen and froze.

His mother was at the table, a bowl of miso in front of her. Her smile reminded him that she was being pleasant and warm to him for some reason he simply couldn't fathom. "Good morning, Suguru," she said quietly.

Frowning, he shuffled forward and plopped down in a seat. Arawaka-san simply appeared at his shoulder, bowl of miso in one hand and a teapot in the other. After she set it down, she vanished and then came back quietly with a teacup and a dish of honey. His mother wrinkled her nose at the sweetener but, surprisingly, said nothing about it.

As Suguru set about fixing his tea as he liked it, his mother idly stirred her miso, commenting, "It looks as if it's going to be a nice day out today."

Suguru simply murmured an agreement into his tea, concentrating more on staying upright than actually conversing.

Chihiro took another sip of her breakfast and then tried, "What time do you have to go into work this morning?" Another incoherent murmur and a lift of his shoulders. She cleared her throat, glancing out the wide window that overlooked the garden. "You…you came in late last night."

Suguru actually looked up at that, eyes narrowed. "I had to work late," he replied shortly. There was no way he was going to talk about his clubbing to his _mother_.

Her expression brightened, corners of her mouth lifting into a smile again. "I saw that news segment yesterday." Then the expression died, her face lifeless as it always was in his memories. "What did you mean by 'personal issues'?" Her voice was quiet, almost echoing in the silence of the kitchen. She swallowed, the click of her dry throat punctuating her question.

Suguru curled his fingers around his teacup and sucked in the wave of steam to pause his words. "You and father kept pushing the issue," he said simply.

Chihiro—his mother—winced. "Was that the only reason you did it?" A pause as her eyes flickered up to him. "What about Nakano-san?"

Flinching back, Suguru's fingers pressed so tightly against the teacup that he feared it would shatter. "How…how did you know about that?"

His mother tilted her head in a familiar, inquisitive move. "While you were in America, I talked with Keiko-san." Her words were smooth and unhurried, unlike Suguru's. "Whenever I'm home, I always ask Keiko-san about you."

"What?" Surprised anger had Suguru standing, the teacup hitting the table. "Why? Do you realize you could just ask me?"

The Seguchi blood in her showed in her rolled eyes and the quick scowl. "And then we fight. That was always how it went before I simply started asking Keiko-san." Her angered expression shuttered, smoothing out to blank indifference. "Now, what about Nakano-san? Did your break-up effect you decision?" As she spoke she reached across the table, righted his teacup, mopped up the spilled tea, and poured him another cup; she even poured some honey into the cup, something she had once disapproved of.

Now shock had Suguru sinking back into his chair. "…Yes," his mouth said without his permission. "I loved him. He didn't love me." He looked down into his new cup of tea.

Her fingers drummed against the table. "First heartbreak is always hard," she said quietly. "And now?" she asked.

"I…" Why was he even talking to her about this? This was such a bad idea. And yet, "Just try to get over him, I guess."

In an unladylike manner, she snorted in laughter; Suguru's eyes widened. What had happened to his cool, composed mother? Why was she acting like a human? "Your first love will always hold a part of your heart, no matter how much you believe you've moved on."

"Then…then I'll just try to be his friend, I guess." The words were empty. He sighed and stood, not bothering with the miso or the rest of his tea. "I need to get ready for work."

"I'll probably be gone when you leave, so have a good day." She was smiling, which was still really, really weird and human-like.

"Yeah," he said blankly, edging out of the kitchen. "You too."

* * *

When Suguru walked into the conference room, he looked pale and shocked. At first, Hiro felt worry churning his stomach. Had Tohma done, said, asked something? And then he saw the dark hickey above Suguru's shirt collar and all that worry drained away, only to be replaced by breath-stealing jealousy. Suguru was clubbing again. Suguru was out with guys again. Suguru was _being fucked _by other men.

The rage was only pushed away because Sakano was saying something about this new album and it was probably important. However, his thought-process kept shorting out, stuck on an endless loop concerning the love bite on Suguru.

Predictably enough, Shuichi eventually started talking, got completely distracted, and then ran away as K shot at him. Sighing, Sakano pulled all of his reports back into his folders and announced to the other two band members that it was time for lunch break. And then he left, Hiro and Suguru the only ones left.

Suguru still looked a little wide-eyed. Clearing his throat got Suguru's attention and Hiro smiled. "Would you like to go to lunch?"

Surprisingly, he agreed, "Uh…sure." Still, Suguru looked a little blank.

Hiro stood and frowned, looking at Suguru's pallor. "Are you okay?" he asked and pushed down the surge of raging emotion. It didn't help, as he sharply added, "Out late last night?"

Suguru's eyes cut over to him and a frown cleared away the blank expression. "No," he bit back, although it was clearly a lie by the way his eyes slid away and his fingers twitched in his lap. "My mother's just acting…strange." He stood and they started walking.

"Well, what do you mean by strange?"

That pole-axed expression came back. "Taking an interest in my life."

Hiro could remember how Suguru described his parents, cold and disinterred. "Isn't that a good thing, though?" Outside the air was cool, grey clouds hovering over the tall buildings.

The dark eyebrows furrowed together, lush mouth tipping down in a frown. "I…guess. It's just…instead of asking me how I'm doing, she asks one of the workers in the house. She says it's because we would always fight."

The conversation paused as they entered the nearby restaurant and were seated. They settled in and ordered, the conversation still flowing smoothly despite everything. "And would you?" Hiro asked, resuming their conversation.

Suguru paused at that, leaning back. "I guess. The last time we actually had a real conversation was…a long time ago." The frown was back and Hiro wanted to kiss it away. "It was probably the argument we had over me joining NG. She said I was too young to be joining a company. I already knew I wanted to compose as a career. Father ordered us to work it out ourselves."

Hiro leaned forward, elbows on the table. A dish of honey was on the table, for Suguru's tea. Hiro only wanted to drip it all over the pale skin and wash it away with his tongue, just as he wanted to wipe that hickey away. It didn't belong on Suguru, unless Hiro put it there himself. "How is your father treating you?"

Shrugging, Suguru said, "The same as always. Well, no, I 'made a name for myself' in America so he's stopped with that. But he's still the same stern bastard he always was." He snorted and picked up the honey, scooping it into his tea. The honey was thick, golden-clear and would look perfect trailed over Suguru's skin.

Idly stirring his tea, Suguru added, "I think I'm going to move out."

"Is it really that bad?" Hiro asked curiously. The Fujisaki parents had seemed distressing, yes, but not enough to run away from them.

"Well, that and after a year living by myself had set it. I just can't do the whole 'house servants' cleaning up after mealong with my parents." And, finally, there—there was the smile that set Hiro's heart beating faster. "Though I did have Sybil in America."

The jealousy shot straight through him again. "Sybil?" Was that a lover Suguru had left behind in New York?

"Yeah, she was my manager." And then he was telling tales of his manager's insanity. The stories slowly morphed into the strange stories of all the bands he had worked with. Then he mentioned someone named Romano and he went quiet.

Before Hiro could get another word in edgewise, food was set in front of them and they ate in quiet. None of Hiro's food wanted to get past the lump in his throat. He needed to ask. "Who was Romano?" Please, don't let it be a lover.

With a frustrated roll of his eyes, Suguru explained, "Romano was Sybil's bodyguard. Though he was usually her spy."

Hiro wanted to chuckle, but there was something about the set of Suguru's mouth that stopped him. "Spy?"

Suguru stabbed at his food with his chopsticks. A flush crawled up his cheeks as he hesitantly spoke. "Yeah. I would go out and he would follow me."

"That's…weird," Hiro said slowly. "Did she have any reason to do that?"

The flush deepened as Suguru looked away. "Ah…yes, actually. I would get lost." He bit his lip as Hiro waited. "I'd be drunk or hung-over so I'd get lost somewhere in New York," Suguru added quietly, sinking low in his seat.

Clubbing—dancing—going out—that's what it always came down to. Hiro took in a deep breath. "At least you know your way around here." The barb was completely unintentional, but Hiro could see it sink in as Suguru slouched even further in his seat, cheeks completely red now.

"Look, I didn't mean it like that."

Suguru's mouth pursed into a thin line. "No, that's okay, Hiro," though it was obviously a lie.

Hiro tried talking some more, but Suguru cut him down each and every time.

The lunch ended in quiet, awkward tension and the walk back to the conference room in NG Studios was just as strained. Across the table Suguru wouldn't look at him, his voice muted anytime he spoke. Hiro's eyes kept drifting away from the reports and his notes to the dark mark on Suguru's neck.

* * *

Suguru dropped his bag by the door in the foyer and dragged himself to the kitchen. Hopefully, there would be some tea in there. When he got into the kitchen, he saw that, no, there wasn't tea, but there was his mother.

She was smiling again, which was still completely freaky. She clucked her tongue at his tired expression and put some water onto boil, moving with surprising ease through a place in the house he rarely saw her in. "Long day?" she asked, moving to get out teacups and honey.

"Yes," he said simply and leaned against one counter. Some strange impulse led him to say, "I had lunch with Hiro."

"And how did that go?" she asked without inflection.

He wasn't going to mention the implied "you're a whore" that had been in the conversation, he really wasn't. Instead, "I'm still in love with him," fell out of his mouth. He shut his eyes against the sting.

Her hand settled on his shoulder and squeezed. She said none of the common adages that would have come from Keiko, she did not pry as Sybil would have, and she did not push the subject as Tohma would have undoubtedly done. Instead, she calmly said, "Have tea with me, Suguru."

He moved from the counter and moved to a small table with her, the teapot and honey between them.


	7. Here It Goes Again

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** Ahahahahano.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **Do you guys realize how awesome you are? No? Well you are. The title of this chapter: hahahaha. Also here be the reasons for Chihiro's behavior. And remember: people do stupid, stupid things for stupid reasons. And OH DRAMATIC IRONY YOU KILL ME DEAD.

**Chapter 7: **Here It Goes Again

"_It starts out easy, something simple, something sleazy, something inching past the edge of reserve."_

The next morning, Suguru was woken up by his cell phone ringing. It was going off even earlier than his alarm clock would and the damn thing was right next to his head, ringtone shrill in the too-early time. Mumbling curses under his breath, he reached over and grabbed the offending object, turning it on and bringing it up to his ear.

"'Lo?" he muttered, scrubbing at his eyes with the heel of his free hand.

A tinny, yet bright laugh made its way through the connection. "Boy-o," Sybil said in a too bright, too loud voice. Even though she spoke in formal Japanese, her voice still held its normal belligerent tone. "Why didn't you tell me you were in the news? Romano had to tell me and I had to watch a recording of it."

Suguru rolled over and tried to bury his face in his pillow. Sybil's only response was an incoherent murmur.

"Come on, Suguru," she said, still loud, "Get up. This is the only time I have all day to talk."

"It's too early," he replied in a muzzy voice.

"Out late last night?" she said sharply.

"No," he snapped, his ire easily cutting through his sleepiness. "I had a long conversation with my mother last night."

"Your _mom_?" she asked incredulously. She had heard stories of the Fujisaki parents, so she understood the concept of either of them acting like humans was out of place.

Suguru rolled over again, eyes on the ceiling as he frowned. "Yeah, right? But supposedly the whole leaving home for America—like they wanted—kicked off some maternal instincts. While I was in New York I didn't talk to either of them because there was nothing to say to them. And according to her, she realized I was growing up and wants to have at least a tiny part in my life." After that first tense dinner home, she had pulled him to the side and had told him all that, expression unhappy and pleading. Strange as it was, she was making an effort.

Sybil snorted. "That's her reason for all the shit they pulled? Sure there's no some sort of plot going on?"

Letting out a humorless chuckle, he replied, "There can't be some sort of plot. Dad would be in on it and he's acting the same as always. And she's being genuine. Genuine and awkward."

"'Bout to say," she laughed. "Must be strange. 'Specially since you said that when you guys did talk once upon a time, you always fought."

"Yeah."

"So tell me about this interview thing you had to do," she ordered.

"What's to say? Crazy manager didn't tell anybody about it, dragged us there, made us do it."

"Yeah, but 'personal issues'?" she repeated laughingly.

"What else was I supposed to say?" he bit out. "'My parents are pushy bastards and the guy I love dumped me'? Yeah, that would go over real well."

She laughed again, though there was a dark undercurrent to it. Then, "Well, Suguru-babe, I've got to go. One of the bands is throwing a hissy fit about something or other, those big babies."

He snickered. "Have fun dealing with them. And I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure, boy-o," she responded and then the dial tone took over.

Hanging up, he placed his thrice-damned cell phone on the stand again and pushed himself up and out of bed, making sure to turn the alarm clock off as he did so. Well, since he was up already…

He made his way downstairs and to the kitchen. Keiko-san ruffled his hair as she passed him, throwing over her shoulder, "Maybe you'll eat breakfast this morning?"

Not up to conversation, he ignored her (and her resulting laughter) and kept walking. His mother was there, dressed in an immaculate suit, teapot and breakfast in front of her. She smiled pleasantly at him and Suguru couldn't help his own smile.

Keiko-san approached and slid a plate in front of him. "Since you've been skipping breakfast, I figured something different might help." It was eggs and toast, something the cook usually wouldn't make. It smelled delicious and his stomach rumbled. The usual dish of honey followed it.

As Keiko-san made to move away, he caught her elbow. "Can I have the paper?" Her eyebrows rose at the strange request, but she nodded as she moved away anyway.

As he began to eat, his mother asked, "Are you looking for a particular article?"

"Real estate," he replied, pouring honey into his tea and stirring. "I'm going to start looking for an apartment."

She sighed. "Already? I knew it was coming, but…" She cut off and shook her head, a bittersweet smile on her lips. "Well, if that's what you want."

"I do. I got used to living by myself in New York." Then he paused, eyes sliding away from her. "At least I'll keep in touch with you," he said stiltedly. As genuine as the emotions were, it was still so unreal.

Her expression brightened. "That's all I ask for, Suguru." And then she went back to her breakfast.

Keiko-san appeared at his side again, paper folded in her hands. He took it from her and as he ate, flipped through the pages in search of a home.

* * *

Suguru hated this. Hated, hated, absolutely hated this. The morning had been going well enough. Then he had gotten to work and Hiro had been there, which, undoubtedly, was nothing unusual. It was just the ass-hugging jeans and tight shirt set off something in Suguru's libido.

Eyes on the broad shoulders outlined by thin cloth, Suguru admitted that maybe he was too sensitive about the day before. Or maybe Hiro was just a bastard. Or both. Just…Hiro was so so close, but still so far. All he wanted to do was reach out and touch, a desire that was getting harder and harder to deny each passing second Hiro was in his line of sight.

It would be stupid, he told himself. What had happened last time? He had gotten his heart broken. So if he tried again…no, no, he reasoned, mind not at all focused on what Sakano was saying about the new album. This time he knew what he was getting into. Hiro did not love him. Hiro would not love him. It was simple enough.

Hiro said something, the low cadence of his voice washing through Suguru. He moved his hands when he talked, the motions almost elegant; Suguru knew what those hands felt like on his skin. He would expect nothing, he thought. It would be just sex this time, just sex and just friendship, and when Hiro would eventually move on…well, he would deal with it then and he would have the memories of _something_. Something was better than nothing, wasn't it?

Sakano called for a break when Shuichi took off in a run out of the room, K following maniacally. Sighing, Sakano also left the room, probably off to report the band's issues to his Sacho-sama.

Yes, Suguru decided as he stood, something was always better than nothing. Smiling, he moved over to where Hiro was sitting. "Hey," he said quietly, titling his head to the side a little.

Hiro's eyes flickered down, then back up, eventually meeting Suguru's. "Hi," he said brightly. "What's up?"

Suguru cocked his hip against the table, leaning his weight against it, and before he could think about it, asked, "Are you seeing anyone?"

There was a blank blink as a response. "Seeing anyone?" he repeated, eyes going down-up again. "No," he said with a smile, leaning back in his seat. "Why?"

Suguru let out a low chuckle and wondered when exactly he had lost his mind. He swung one leg over Hiro's and settled into the comfortable lap. He curled his arms over the broad shoulders. "Well, remember how we had that thing last year?"

"Yeah," Hiro said and placed his hands on Suguru's hips. They felt _right_ there, as if the space was specially made for those hands.

"I was wondering, maybe…" he trailed off, glanced away, looked back underneath his eyelashes, "you want to do something like that again?"

Those strong fingers twitched, Hiro's expression stilling. "Like that?" Then, "Just sex?" he asked softly.

Suguru had to keep the smile on his face. "Just sex," he agreed. He forced the smile a notch brighter and joked, "No rebound this time?"

There was something soft about Hiro's expression now, something warm about his eyes. "None at all," he replied softly.

"Good." Suguru leaned forward and kissed Hiro gently, mouth brushing mouth the slightest bit. Those fingers twitched against his skin and then tugged him a fraction of an inch closer, their mouths pressed full on. This…this was what he had been missing.

As they heard the telltale thumps of Shuichi's frantic running, Suguru pulled back with a sigh and slid out of Hiro's lap. Hiro caught his wrist. "Dinner," he said quickly. "And then my place?"

There was nobody yet, so Suguru leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to Hiro again. "Sure," he agreed with a smile.

Shuichi came back into the conference room, quickly followed by a shooting, laughing K and a teary-eyed Sakano. Even though Sakano started speaking once more, Shuichi interrupting occasionally with an idea or two, Suguru was still so very very distracted. He couldn't help it. Somehow, he was able to get through the rest of the day without being caught in his distracted state (which was punishable by shooting by K).

Shuichi left NG with a smile and a wave and then it was just Suguru and Hiro outside the building. Suguru hitched his bag higher and looked over to Hiro with a smile. "Where to?"

Hiro looked back over to him. "How about I make you dinner tonight, instead of us going out?"

"Sure," Suguru easily agreed, although some part of him was thrilled by the idea of Hiro making dinner. No, he scolded himself half-heartedly, Hiro does not love me.

Hiro had his motorbike with him, so Suguru took the place behind him, wrapped his arms around the trim waist, and held on for dear life when they took off. As always, the ride on the bike was wonderfully thrilling and horribly arousing.

Hiro's apartment looked the same as Suguru remembered it. The kitchen was bright and clean and echoed with their loud laughter as Hiro cooked a simple but delicious meal of vegetables and rice. It was…nice. Their joking continued as they cleaned up, the simple act becoming a full on war when Hiro decided it was an apparently good idea to hit Suguru with a splash of water and a spray of bubbles.

Then Hiro pulled him to a bedroom that looked exactly as it did in his mind and slowly stripped him of his clothes. Hiro's hands were gentle on his skin, but his mouth was rough with hard kisses and sharp bites. Those bites got even sharper when the mouth moved from his to his neck. Then it was soft sheets underneath him to go with those gentle hands and low laughter as they tried to figure out what exactly went where. And then it was just steady motions and building heat and _Hiro Hiro Hiro_.

Hiro used his shirt to clean them off, tossed it to a shadowed corner of the bedroom, and pulled Suguru close as he drifted off.

* * *

Looking down, Hiro pressed a soft kiss to Suguru's temple. Just as before, Suguru looked exactly as if he belonged there, body curled around Hiro's, a slight smile on his face as he slept. Hiro brushed an errant lock of dark hair away from the pale skin.

Fuck, he was so doomed.


	8. Television, Television

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** I don't own blah blah blah.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **Thanks for all the reviews and stuff guys! (And 10 alerts! WOOT.) LOVE LOVE LOVE. And I like Keiko-san. Can I keep her?

**Chapter 8: **Television, Television

"…_look at the betting man, look at him folding on the better hand."_

Suguru rolled in the cradle of Hiro's arms and opened his eyes slowly. The room was bathed in pale golden light from the crack in the curtains. Under him Hiro shifted a bit, arms tightening around Suguru. A small smile quirked up his mouth as he leaned down and nuzzled at Suguru's temple. "Morning," he rumbled in a low voice, eyes still closed.

"Very good morning," Suguru corrected, moving to close the space between them. Hiro's grin was soft against his mouth, playfulness appearing in a slight nip to his bottom lip.

One hand slowly drew its way up his spine, the fingers smoothing along each bump and dip. One eye slid open and peered at him for a moment; then the eye closed again and then hand went back down, tracing the curves of his lower back and ass. "Better?"

Suguru made a contemplative noise in the back of his throat and arched into the touch. "Definitely could be," he said around a slight laugh.

Hiro rolled them so Suguru was pressed flat against the soft sheets, Hiro hovering above him. There were warm sparks in his eyes, that same small lovely quirk to his mouth. He leaned down and brushed a kiss over the hollow of Suguru's neck. Suguru gulped at the sudden rush of sensation and Hiro chased the bobbing Adam's apple with his tongue.

"Definitely better," Suguru choked out, hands fisting in the sheets. Chuckling, Hiro bent down, hands already roaming.

They were able to spend a good hour that way with another half-hour shared in the shower. When they emerged, damp and clean but clothed (Suguru in the clothes from the day before as this definitely hadn't been expected so he hadn't thrown extra clothes in his bag), Hiro turned to him and said almost hesitantly, "You want breakfast?"

Suguru paused and cut a glance over to Hiro. "Actually, I need to get back to my place. I need some clothes for today."

That elicited a slight smile. "Sure. I can give you a ride there."

The clarity of the air seemed to waken them both up some more, the revving of the motorcycle's engine breaking the still silence of the morning. The energy of the bike thrummed its way through the metal and leather and continued into Suguru's body, jolting his nerves to life. As always Hiro was warm and broad and Suguru just wanted to lean up and suggest that they ride and ride and ride until the bike gave out underneath them. Instead, he pressed as close as possible, pressed his cheek to the strong back, and felt the thrum of energy and blood.

Hiro somehow remembered the way and they were in front of the Fujisaki household within no time. Taking off the helmet, Suguru handed it off and hesitated. Whatever ideas he had were killed when Hiro tugged him down and kissed him thoroughly. Heat melted his knees and made his stomach do a lazy flip. Hiro pulled back slowly, gave him a wide, lazy smile, and then drove away.

Suguru blinked at the dust cloud left in Hiro's wake and then made his way into the house, a small, pleased smile on his face. Then he passed the dining room and the smile died in face of his glare. Keiko-san, his mother, and several other female workers were crowded around one wide window, heads turned towards the direction Hiro had taken off in.

The workers he couldn't name vanished in a flurry when they saw him, but Keiko-san and his mother remained, eyeing him. Keiko-san let out a low, long whistle and asked, "You're starting that up again, Suguru?" At his scowl she only sighed and remarked, "Be careful this time." And then she strolled out of the room without another word.

Suguru turned his glare on his mother. Fujisaki Chihiro flushed delicately. "I know it's none of my business, Suguru. But…" she faltered and then stepped up to him, placing her slender hands on his shoulders. "Like Keiko-san said, be careful."

He rolled his eyes and unthinkingly replied, "It's just sex."

When his mother turned bright red and turned away, Suguru realized what he had just said and covered his face with his hands. Then his mother cleared her throat and stiltedly said, "That just means you have to be careful. Even more so actually."

Suguru's head snapped up, his eyes wide. A flush slowly crawled up his cheeks as he gaped at his mother. Without another word he turned from her and walked away from the room, mortified. He caught the edge of a free laugh from her and continued walking.

* * *

Their day wasn't really any different for having had started this thing between them again. Suguru smiled and laughed and snarked as he usually did; Hiro grinned and chuckled and joked as much as usual. And if their eyes strayed away from Shuichi's scribbles and their music to land on the other…well, no one noticed. They focused on music until their lunch break rolled around. Suguru had half of a thought to ask Hiro to lunch, but Shuichi grabbed onto Hiro's wrist and dragged him out of the room; Suguru got an apologetic look and a slight shrug of Hiro's shoulders before he was completely gone.

Suguru didn't really feel up to a meal but instead went to a coffee shop, stealing a table and a chair with a CD player and a notebook. His coffee was heavy and rich, loaded with cream and sugar. He went between CD player and his notes of Shuichi's scribbles until a hand slammed down on the tiny table.

His pen skittered, the CD's music skipped, and his cup jolted, the coffee sloshing over the rim and going over the table; he jumped and glared at the offender. It was a man, almost pleasant looking if it weren't for the sly smile on his face.

Jerking off his headphones, Suguru mopped up the mess of coffee and snapped, "What do you want?"

The man's smile went from sly to charming. "Kishimoto Tencho, reporter of _Star Magazine_. May I have a seat?"

Suguru sneered. "No." He pushed the coffee-soaked napkins to the side and regarded his now almost empty coffee cup.

"I'll buy you another coffee," the reporter persuaded.

"No," Suguru replied in a syrupy sweet voice. He was more concerned with his notes and finding his place in his music again.

The idiotic reporter sat down anyway, the charming grin still on his face. "Now, Fujisaki-san, may I ask you a few questions?"

"No," Suguru said again, feeling as if he were on repeat. "Now, go away before I decide to pour the rest of my coffee on your lap."

"Oh, feisty," the reporter drawled. A thin, black recorder appeared from out of nowhere and was shoved in his face. For a moment Suguru stared narrowly at the recorder and the reporter.

Then he gathered his stuff, leaving his coffee cup on the table, and walked out of the café. The reported followed anyway.

"Now, will you tell Japan why you left the famous group Bad Luck? What were those personal issues you mentioned? Bad break-up? Bad business? Blackmail?" The last word was hissed conspiratorially.

"What?" Suguru stopped and stared at the reporter. _Star Magazine_…it was probably one of those trashy gossip magazines that held absolutely no fact and only fiction. "No," he said again.

The reporter continued to persist. "Come on, Fujisaki-san. Look, how about I take you out to dinner and you can answer all my questions?" The charming grin went a notch higher.

Suguru stopped short again, staring incredulously at the man. He wasn't that bad looking and a year or so ago, he would have taken the reporter up on the offer. (Of course, all the questions would have been expertly avoided and the sex probably wouldn't have been that good, but still. A free dinner was a free dinner, after all. And sex, however bad, was still sex.) But still…things were different now. "How about you take 'no' for an answer instead?"

And then he turned and walked into NG Studios. The reporter wasn't stupid enough to try and get into the building. He had heard the stories of the maniacal workers that had destruction and chaos following them that Seguchi employed. Dejected, he left.

* * *

Hiro laughed as Shuichi went into a flurry of motion and posed. In his back pocket, his cell phone rang. Still laughing, he turned from Shuichi and pulled his phone from his pocket, flipping it open and answering with, "Hello?"

"Hiro!" Ayaka chirped.

"Oh, hey, Ayaka. How are you?" Shuichi flailed at him, made a strange face, and flailed some more. Hiro waved him off and watched as Shuichi pouted over his lunch.

"Good. But, guess what?"

"What?" he asked curiously.

"I just saw your news thing. And you didn't tell me." Her giggle stopped him. "Let me guess. K-san didn't tell it to any of you until he was dragging you there?"

"Got it one," he groaned and wondered what sort of past life he had led to have that sort of punishment inflicted on him. Or maybe Tohma was just a cruel bastard. That was always possible.

"But, Hiro, you and Fujisaki-san…" she trailed off into nothing and Hiro could just imagine her shifting her weight and biting her lower lip.

"We're dealing," he said. They were doing more than dealing actually.

"Okay." A pause. "It's just I have this friend and she was really hoping to meet you." Another pause, but this one was tense and filled with unsaid words. "I mean, she's a nice girl and I figured you would like her and—"

"Ayaka," he cut in. "I don't want to date anybody." Unless it was Suguru.

"But…you're working with him again and you have it really badly and he—"

"Actually," he interrupted again. "Me and Suguru…"

A low groan from her. "Don't tell me you two are sleeping together again?" His silence was her answer. There were no patronizing words, just a sad, "Oh, Hiro."

"Look, I'll be all right. Things will be fine."

"Okay," she sighed. "If you say so…"

Before she could delve into any other unpleasant topics, he said, "Hey, can I talk to you later? I need to get back to work."

"Alright," she said neutrally. "Goodbye, Hiro."

"Bye, Ayaka," he replied and hung up. When he turned Shuichi was there, looking like the cat that had gotten the canary and the cream. "What?" Hiro asked warily.

"You and Suguru?" And then Shuichi cackled, lightening crackling behind him. "You're so in love with him! Are you going to say something this time?"

Hiro rubbed a hand over his face. "I don't know. Maybe."

Shuichi made a ridiculous kissy face at him. "You need to. And then he'll realize his love for you and you'll ride off into the sunset, but not too long so then you two can come back and we can make awesome music and we'll be the COOLEST GAY BAND IN JAPAN, YEAH!" Triumph finger point towards the sky.

Hiro sighed. The other patrons of the restaurant were eyeing them warily; a few were glaring coldly, but those were all aimed at Shuichi who, as usual, did not notice. Their lunch already paid for, Hiro dragged his friend out of the restaurant. "Come on," he coaxed. "K will kill us if we don't get back in time." That was persuasion enough.

When they did get back into the room in NG Studios, Sakano started on his spiel once more for what they could do financially for this album. Across the table, notebook spread out and pen poised, Suguru looked irritated. When he caught Hiro's eye, he smiled and all frustration left his face. The day suddenly brighter, Hiro smiled back.


	9. Invincible

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** YES YES YES. Oh, wait…no. Not at all.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **I LOVE ALL OF YOU. THE REVIEWS MAKE ME FLAIL. Hey, you think we can pass the number of reviews for "Bye Bye Baby"? Do you do you do you?

**Chapter 9: **Invincible

"_So, please use your powers for good."_

Hiro watched as Shuichi laughed maniacally and ran out the door, intent on "finding his wonderful, lovely Yuki" and "having the best, love-filled weekend EVER." With a chuckle Hiro turned to Suguru and smiled. To think, one whole week of just them and whatever this was between them, and it was all going so smoothly. There had been dinner and lunch and late nights spent together. It was going supremely well. Maybe, when the time was right…

Sakano looked up from his reports and glanced over the two remaining band members. "Ah, Fujisaki-san, before you go, Sacho-sama wishes to meet with you."

Suguru's glance slid from Hiro to Sakano. Sighing, he stood and looked at Hiro once more. "I'll be back soon," he said quietly. "If you want to start finishing up those melodies…"

"Sure," Hiro agreed, watching as Suguru then walked from the room. Smiling faintly, he looked back down at his notes of some of Shuichi's ideas. Then, realizing that the prickling sensation along his skin was someone staring at him, he looked up and met Sakano's gaze.

The producer startled, a slight flush suffusing his cheeks, and directed his gaze elsewhere. "I apologize, Nakano-san. I was just curious…" His voice trailed away to nothing, a nervous sweat becoming visible on his brow.

Shrugging easily and leaning back in his seat, Hiro asked, "What about?"

"It just appears that Fujisaki-san is, ah, greatly changed around you, Nakano-san." The color was draining from his face, leaving him pale once more.

Hiro drummed his fingers along the edge of the table. Was it so obvious that they were in a relationship of sorts…or was it another change Sakano was talking about? "What do you mean?"

Stalling, Sakano cleared his throat and shuffled some of his papers. "He seems," and here he paused, obviously weighing his words, "…less concerned with work," he settled on. Even with that, he frowned. He tried again anyway. "I mean…he doesn't seem to have as much, ah, edge with you." Still, he frowned, the words still not conveying quite what he meant.

"He's…happier?" Hiro suggested. That, he saw, was how Suguru reacted to him, although it was sometimes masked by his cool composure.

Sakano's frown became bemused at that. "Perhaps," he mused quietly. Then he shook his head and gathered all his reports together. "I must be going, Nakano-san." He dipped his head as a goodbye and left the room, leaving Hiro alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Suguru pushed open the door to Tohma's office, ignoring the glare Tohma sent him as he slammed the door behind him. Scowling quite fiercely, Tohma pressed his fingers to his temple and spun his chair around, facing the wide window. Suguru could still hear his voice as he continued whatever conversation he had on the telephone. Letting the murmur of Tohma's words wash over him, he sat in the chair in front of the desk and simply waited.

About ten minutes passed before Tohma spun back around in his chair, hanging the phone up with a _click_. "Good to see you, Suguru." His smile was small and sharp.

Suguru raised an eyebrow. "Sure," he said easily, trying to remain unfazed. "Sakano said you wanted to see me for something."

And there were the laced fingers and the cool expression. "I had a conversation with your mother just a while ago. She mentioned something that I was rather concerned about."

Oh, hell. They were ganging up on him about something? His mother _and_ Tohma? He tried to keep his calm. "What about?"

Tohma's expression shuttered, mouth thinning into a line. "Your renewed relationship with Nakano-san."

They were talking about _that_? Oh, great. Outwardly though, he appeared to be unruffled and serene. He tilted his head a tad to the side. "And what about it concerns you?" he asked placidly.

"Let's consider how the last time you were in a relationship with Nakano-san, its ending resulted in you leaving Japan." Tohma eyed him contemplatively. "You have only been back for two weeks. Nobody wishes for you to run back to America."

"You have no reason to be concerned," he truthfully said. "Last time, I had been rather deeply involved emotionally. This time, the terms are different." All truth.

Tohma narrowed his eyes the slightest bit. "So you are less emotionally involved this time?"

"Of course," Suguru lied. "So there's no reason to worry."

There was a creak as Tohma shifted his weight in the chair, still quietly regarding him. "Do you realize that you also told me last time that everything would be fine?"

"Yes, and last time I had believed the relationship would have gone farther than it did. That was why I was so…" There was no word he could he come up with except "heartbroken."

"Distraught?" Tohma suggested dryly.

"If you wish," Suguru replied lightly. He didn't really like that word either, but it would have to do.

"That is why we are concerned," Tohma retorted sharply. "If you ended up like that last time, how will you end up this time?"

Suguru forced a chuckle, though he truly did not feel it. "But I feel nothing for him anymore," he lied deftly. "So even if the relationship does end, it will be nothing to me." Nothing but a lovely, dream-gilded memory.

Frowning, Tohma stared at him for a moment. "Just know, this time I will not allow for a transfer to another company."

"There will be no need for a transfer." Suguru stood, looking down at the desk. "Is there anything else you needed to tell me, Tohma?"

Tohma's smile was polite, although strained. "Not at all, Suguru. You may go."

"Of course." With his own fake polite smile, he turned and walked out of the room. His mood would be much better after spending some time with his keyboard and Hiro.

* * *

Hiro startled as Suguru stalked back into the recording room with a scowl. "Everything okay?" Hiro asked concernedly. The gentle strum of his guitar underlined his words.

Suguru went over to his keyboard and stabbed the power button with unusual hostility. "Just…Tohma being an evil bastard, as usual," he muttered.

Carefully, Hiro set his guitar down and approached his irate band member. "Are you sure you're all right? You look kinda…pissed."

Looking down at the glossy keys of his synthesizer, Suguru let out a long sigh. "Like I said, Tohma's just being a bastard."

Hiro tilted the lovely face towards him. "How so?"

Suguru leaned into the touch, eyes fluttering shut as he let go of whatever irritation that lingered from his meeting with Tohma. "Just…prying where he shouldn't." He opened his eyes again and met Hiro's gaze. Now, there was a hint of a smile there, playing about the corners of his mouth. "It's nothing. I'll be fine."

"You sure?" He drew his thumb over one tilted cheekbone, reveled in the satiny skin.

Suguru stood up on his toes and brushed his mouth lightly over Hiro's. When he pulled back, leaning against his keyboard once more, the smile was in full bloom. "I'm positive."

Hiro smiled. "Since you're in such a good mood, do you want to pick what we should do tonight, after we get done with some of these melodies?"

Now, Suguru was grinning. "How about dinner…and then your place?" There was an arch to his eyebrows and a certain curve to his grin that showed the true direction of his thoughts.

On a laugh Hiro leaned down and pressed another kiss to Suguru. "Sure."

Hiro moved back to his spot, lifted his guitar, and gave it an experimental strum. Suguru chimed in with a delicate trill. Then Hiro replied once more, and then Suguru again, and they were battling it out, weaving a whole new set of melodies from out of nothing but competition and laughter.

When they did finally settle down to work, it only took about an hour to finish up the lines of melodies they were working on. Once done, they grabbed their stuff and left, easily picking out a restaurant from the line presented along the block. They were seated quickly and ordered their meals. Their conversation, as always, flowed easily, until Suguru shifted, apparently spotted something, and then frowned darkly.

"Hiro?" he asked quietly, eyes focused on something past his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Have...have you ever felt like you were being watched?"

Hiro paused, taking in the sudden wariness to Suguru's expression. "Like, you mean, stalked?"

Suguru hesitated and then went, "Not exactly."

Leaning forward, Hiro took the slender hand in his, squeezing lightly. "If you think someone's following you, then you should report it to the police."

With a frustrated look, Suguru shook his head. "No, I don't think anyone's stalking me. I just…" He let out an angry sigh and went on a different track. "You know that hair-raising, prickly feeling of someone watching you?"

"I guess. Why? Is that what you've been feeling?" That was creepy. Maybe some fan had simply gone psycho was just choosing the best out of their group to go completely fan girl over. But no, that leaned too much towards stalking and Suguru had denied that…

Suguru looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Yeah. For the past week I have. And now…" He trailed off into silence, eyebrows lowering as he glared at the undefeatable something over Hiro's shoulder.

"And now?" Hiro prompted gently. Hesitantly, he glanced over his shoulder, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. He looked back over to Suguru.

"It's just that last week some reporter hunted me down in a café and since that I've been feeling like someone's staring at me whenever I go out. And I just saw him in here…"

Okay, so not a fan, but a reporter. "You think he's watching you?"

Slowly, Suguru dragged his eyes away from the reporter to Hiro's. "I'm not sure. I mean, this is the first time I've seen him, so I can't be positive but…" And then the silence, again.

"But you feel like you're right?" Hiro hazarded.

A short, jerky nod.

"Well," Hiro drawled. "You can just go confront him now." The suggestion was mainly that- a _suggestion_. If he were with Shuichi, he knew his friend would go with the suggestion and run with it—possibly literally. But Suguru was a different story altogether. So composed and controlled, he highly doubted Suguru would do something like that. Now, manipulating the man and then somehow making the fool reveal himself and all of his secrets, that was more Suguru's line. Suguru's narrow-eyed glare just confirmed his thoughts.

"Or you could just talk to K and Sakano tomorrow about getting some sort of restraining order against him?" The frustration rose to the lovely face again. "He hasn't done anything, I know, but we both know how K and Sakano work."

"I don't like it," Suguru said quietly, eyes trained once more over Hiro's shoulder.

Sighing, Hiro reached out and cupped the gentle curve of jaw, tilting Suguru's face towards his own. He caught the dark eyes and said, "Concentrate on your meal now. And then you can get everything fixed tomorrow." The dark eyes narrowed into a glare once more. Hiro frowned in response and leaned back in his chair, releasing his hold. "Unless you want to do something about it now, I mean?" The words had a potential to be sharp, but his tone was calm, the words unhurried and smooth.

The glare flickered and then died out. "I suppose not. It wouldn't be the right…setting." The last word was said contemplatively, as if Suguru were already plotting something.

"No," Hiro laughed. "You would want something with chains and whips to torture your victims with, right?"

Suguru chuckled and then looked underneath inky eyelashes at Hiro. "Chains and whips?" he murmured curiously, one eyebrow suggestively quirking upwards.

Any response Hiro had was killed by the arrival of waiters and their food. They ate in peace, Suguru fully immersed in the conversation, eyes never straying back to the point beyond Hiro's shoulder. They finished the meal and then left the restaurant idly talking about the melodies they would have to work on tomorrow. As they walked their fingers brushed. Barely thinking about it, Hiro laced his fingers with Suguru's, pressing their palms together. Suguru glanced askance at him, smiled, and then gently squeezed Hiro's hand.


	10. It's a Disaster

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** No. I am merely borrowing.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **DO NOT LIKE. NOT ONE BIT.

**Chapter 10: **It's a Disaster

"_It's an incredible mess, but it's all we got now."_

It had been another week of music and scribbles, of gentle kisses and loving glances. Also, it had been another week of that strange, just-being-watched feeling. And yet, he hadn't spotted that damn reporter again. The day after that dinner, the one that Kishimoto whoever-he-was had freakishly, creepily, watched over, he had gone to K and Sakano, just like Hiro had suggested. And the two of them had put out a warning—not quite a restraining order issued from the law, no, but this mere warning had the potential to be more frightening and effective than the issued order as many knew of the chaotic, destructive tendencies of the NG Studio employees.

Suguru glanced around the lot again and shuffled a little closer to the building. The area was dark in the night and he still had that creeping, prickly feeling, but he was just fine out here. He was waiting for Hiro and the lobby was still open, but then the receptionists would look over at him and coo and pry and bat their eyelashes until he felt like a right idiot.

And yet, a few seconds later, he was wishing he had done just that. A shadow shifted in the darkness of the lot and then started walking towards him. Just another person, he told himself, shifting his weight once more. The shadow walked closer and closer and then came right up to him.

Suguru scowled and glared as best as he could at the shadowy figure of the annoying reporter Kishimoto. Speak of the devil.

The man grinned at him, his teeth a bright sheen in the dim lighting from the building. "Fujisaki Suguru," he said softly, stopping only feet away from Suguru. "Since I've caught you here, I'd like to ask a few questions—"

"No," Suguru cut in sternly. "No questions, no reports, nothing."

"Are you sure about that?" he wheedled. "Just a few questions, nothing more."

Sneering, Suguru stepped back against the building. "I'm not going to answer any of your questions."

Kishimoto sighed and extracted an envelope from his jacket. "Now, that's not nice, Fujisaki-san." He waved the envelope through the air. "This here is some pictures that I think all the gossip mags would love to get their greasy hands on." He thumbed open the envelope, took a few glossy pictures out, and waved them in front of Suguru.

Squinting so he could see them in the dark, Suguru could make out him and Hiro as the main people in the photos. There were pictures of them dining together, laughing together, walking together…even kissing each other. A frisson of anger heated his cheeks, made him clench his hands into fists.

Damn it all. The fall-out of this would not be pretty.

Kishimoto placed the photographs back into the envelope. "Now, see, these pictures will stay safe with me if you just give me an exclusive interview on your reasons for leaving Bad Luck. If you don't, I send these pictures out to all the celebrity mags." His smile was greasy and ingratiating. "Now, what do you think of that?"

"I say you're an idiot," Suguru said coldly, voice soft. "I won't answer your questions. Send those pictures out and I'll just take this issue to Sacho Seguchi. I don't imagine he'll be pleased."

Kishimoto took a threatening step forward, expression morphing into a furious grimace.

He was only stopped by the doors of NG Studios opening and Hiro walking out, heading over to them. Something must have been off about their stances because his pace quickened. An icy, polite smile on his face, Hiro stepped between Kishimoto and Suguru. "Having a problem here?" he asked.

Not retreating, Kishimoto looked at Hiro. "Not at all," he said blithely.

Hiro's eyes narrowed. "Uh huh," he replied, unconvinced. Then his hand flashed out, snatching the envelope of photos out of Kishimoto's hands. He thumbed it open, peered in, and set a dark glare on the man. "Blackmail?" His voice was low, filled with the promise of vengeance, if so needed.

Kishimoto's eyes darted frantically between them. Then coming to some sort of conclusion, he smiled gently and took a step back. "You misunderstand. This is a private conversation between Fujisaki-san and I."

Obviously unmoved, Hiro raised an eyebrow. "You can have it later," he said calmly and then nonchalantly placed the envelope into his pocket. Ignoring Kishimoto's angry scowl, he turned to Suguru and said, "Come on," and started walking away from the building.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Hiro quietly asked, "Was that the reporter you mentioned?"

"Unfortunately."

"What was he even asking about?"

Lightly, Suguru sighed. "He wants an exclusive interview on why I left the band."

Now at the motorcycle Hiro stilled, hands frozen against the helmet. Hesitantly, he asked, "Are you ever going to tell anybody why you did that?"

Suguru had told Sybil his reasons, right when he was leaving. That counted, didn't it? His throat closed up at the mere thought of telling the truth to Hiro. "I don't think so, no," he said absently.

Hiro straightened even further, looking down at Suguru. His voice was soft. "Why did you leave?" A tense pause as Hiro just looked at him; cannibalistic butterflies erupted in his stomach at the silence. "Did it have anything to do with me ending things?"

Suguru looked away.

That, however, seemed enough of an answer for Hiro because his started talking once more. "I mean…I'm still sorry that I used you like that. You were my colleague and I shouldn't have done such a thing. You became my friend and I used you." The words held a tone of a litany that was often repeated. "It's just…me and Ayaka broke-up and she wanted me to wait. I…I couldn't do it for her. She only offered a possibility that she would come back."

Suguru swallowed bitterness and distractedly smoothed his fingers over the seat of the bike. The material was rough, worn. "You wouldn't wait for her?"

Hiro hesitated. "She offered me 'maybe' and 'someday'. I…just couldn't do it." Another pause, the silence filling up with unsaid things and mistakes. Hiro reached out and drew his fingers along the curve of Suguru's jaw. "If there had been more than a chance, if she had offered something real…" He stopped and retracted his hand, shaking his head bemusedly. "It doesn't matter now anyway. Though I still regret hurting you."

All his heaviness seemed to be pushed away with a quirk of his mouth. "And you? You left because…?" The sentence dangled, hoping for an answer.

Suguru pulled the helmet over his head. Hopefully, with the tint of the visor, Hiro would not be able to read the lie on his face. "Just because," he said. "Are we staying here all night?"

Hiro pulled his own helmet on and got onto the bike. They rode away from the building, wind rushing past them. As always, Suguru felt comfortable here, safe even. But those questions, Hiro's questions, could not be answered. He would not. Leaving himself open and vulnerable like that could not happen again.

When they pulled up to Hiro's apartment building, they got off the bike, pulling their helmets off. However, as Suguru started walking towards the building, Hiro paused, glancing around the lot suspiciously.

Suguru stopped, looking over his shoulder. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Hiro threw another glance around. "No," he said, the words belied by his frown and the furrow of his brows. "Just…" and then absolutely nothing. He shook it off and then stepped up to Suguru's side, both of them walking into the building and up to the apartment.

When Hiro unlocked and opened his door, he was smiling at something Suguru had said, a laugh in his voice. Then he turned towards the doorway and froze, eyes widening at whatever was in the room. "Mom?" he asked incredulously.

Stomach jumping, Suguru peered around Hiro's frame, eyeing the woman on the couch. She had dark hair, not quite auburn, not quite brunette, and there was a slight frown to her mouth. Eyes narrowing, arms akimbo, she stood and stared them down.

Hiro revved into action. He entered his apartments, ushering Suguru in also, and shut the door behind them. When Nakano-san said nothing, Hiro went, "Uh, hi, mom. What are you doing here?"

She crossed her arms and cocked her hip. "You know, it was your brother who had to call and tell me you were in a relationship." Her mouth pursed, expression darkening. "I had heard about your break-up with that Ayaka girl through the news, Hiroshi. And now this? Is it too much to call your mother and say something?"

She rolled her eyes, expression still extremely displeased. "Yuuji said that you were in love with this person and had been for a while. Why do I have to hear news about your life from you brother?" As Hiro paled and said nothing, Suguru's mind snagged on the thorn in her words and completely shut-down.

Then she spotted Suguru and everything about her softened. "Is this him? I mean, I had always thought Shuichi, perhaps, but…" and she trailed off and walked forward, placing her hands on Suguru's shoulders. "Oh, I am so very glad I get to meet you."

And then she flushed pink and stepped back. "I apologize. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Nakano Saya." She extended one slim hand.

Higher thought processes still dead, Suguru shook her hand and introduced himself.

She smiled at him and laughed softly. "Yes, you were the one Yuuji mentioned." She narrowed a glare at her youngest. "Not that Hiroshi would ever tell me anything."

Hiro had apparently found his voice because said, "Mom, I'm sorry. I've just been really busy lately."

One eyebrow rose as she leveled an incredulous look at him. "Yuuji told me that you've been in love for a while."

Frowning himself now, Hiro asked, "Do you really believe everything he says?"

"Well, when he gives me more information about your life than you do, I'm inclined to." She turned back to Suguru, sugar once more. "Now, Suguru dear, you've simply have to come by for dinner sometime soon. My husband also wishes to meet you." Her gaze went distant as she thoughtfully tapped a finger against her mouth "Though he'll be surprised that Hiroshi's gay for somebody not Shuichi." In the background Hiro groaned lowly in distinct horror.

Suguru smiled and lied through his teeth. "I assure you, I'll come by for dinner once Hiro takes me there, Nakano-san."

"Yeah, mom," Hiro agreed hollowly.

Smiling sweetly, she turned to her son and pinched his cheek. "Now you'll have to do that soon, Hiroshi or I'll be forced to do something not pleasant."

"Like break into my apartment?"

She laughed. "I didn't break in, child of mine." Her smile widened, viciousness lurking in the corners of her mouth. "Your brother gave me the key. Yell at him." Another silvery laugh, a wave of her fingers, and then she was walking out of the apartment as if she didn't do anything at all.

"My family's insane," Hiro said blankly.

There was still a thorn in Suguru's thoughts, so he could only absently reply, "Whose family isn't?" As it was the thorn was simply a distraction, easily grabbing all his thoughts; it had to be pulled out sometime. "Hiro…what did she mean about you being in love?" He was still tense from Kishimoto and Hiro's questions; this was simply ratcheting the tension higher.

"My brother," Hiro started, just as quickly coming to a halt. Something in his expression softened as he looked at Suguru. For a moment he just stared, eyes tracing over Suguru. "I—it's true," he said softly. He reached out, gently cupped Suguru's face in one hand. "I'm in love with you. I have been for a while."


	11. No Sign of Life

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** Ohhh. I wish. Birthday gift anyone?

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **So, yeah, two chapters left after this one. OMG thanks to those who review—especially those who review EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN' CHAPTER (you know who you are, loveys). Also: Sybil wasn't supposed to keep popping up like this. Neither was Keiko-san or Chihiro.

**Chapter 11: **No Sign of Life

"_But I got a hunch; it's not over yet."_

Suguru's breath caught in his throat. This…what? He had expected friendship, he had expected the desire of their physical activitites. He had thought that this would go on until a reporter found out—like that greasy, annoying Kishimoto— or until Hiro fell for someone else; he had expected it to somehow end between them and he would somehow deal with a broken heart while they continued to work together. He had never expected…

Hiro's thumb smoothed gently over his cheek.

As heat flooded his body, everything hypersensitive, he closed his eyes and stepped away from Hiro's hand. This…this was not according to plan. As if far away, he could hear his voice, distant and soft. "You must be mistaken, Hiroshi." Was it really him saying this?

He opened his eyes. Hiro's expression was shocked, eyes wide. As he watched Hiro's expression rearranged into a placid mask, the corners of his (_lovely, lush, beautiful, delicious_) mouth tipped up into a bitter smile. "No, I'm not," he replied softly. "Why would I be?"

Suguru didn't even realize he was scoffing until he spoke. "You must be," his mouth said without his permission. "This relationship was only about sex, Hiroshi." And now he was frowning. "Love was never part of the equation."

And, that, yes, that was true. The relationship—as they had started it—had been all about their physical desires, never emotional matters. It was as if the rug had been pulled out from under him. Plans were supposed to be made and followed, not agreed to and broken.

This…this was too much.

"I—" Hiro started, but Suguru took a quick step forward and pressed his mouth to Hiro's. He ground his hips upwards, drawing one hand down Hiro's chest. When his hand curved around the hard length of Hiro's erection, Hiro groaned. This…this was what the whole relationship was supposed to be about.

Then Hiro tried to step back. "Suguru, I—," he started again, but it was cut off as Suguru moved forward for another kiss and another grope. For a moment Hiro's mouth was firm and unyielding; then his mouth softened, opened, and Suguru was pulled roughly forward into the almost harsh embrace.

This was what their relationship was about—not words, not emotions, but really good sex. And it had to stay that way. Because, damn it all, if the thing between them suddenly changed from what they had to the emotional…well, Hiro would be severely disappointed.

Suguru was pulled roughly to the bedroom, the kiss between them biting and unkind. Suguru made sure to keep his hands busy, constantly distracting Hiro. In the bedroom he used all of his tricks, everything he had ever learned from all his one night stands, to keep Hiro's mind hazy with heat and desire and bliss.

When they were both done, Hiro quickly fell asleep, body covered in cooling sweat, angry love bites, and drying semen. Suguru looked down at the peaceful face and curled a strand of damp auburn hair around one finger.

Then, resolved to get through this with most of his heart intact, he cleaned himself, dressed himself, and gathered his things. A long walk home and some clear air would do him good. The quiet _click_ of the shutting door echoed in the silence of the apartment.

* * *

Disoriented, Hiro opened his eyes. There was no work today, so why was he awake…and why was he naked? Smoothing a finger over a particularly dark bruise on his hipbone, he remembered everything from last night. Had he completely fucked up everything? There was another bruise, only a smaller shadow against his skin, on his collarbone. Yes, he figured, he had fucked up everything; he had known, from the beginning, that he was doomed, but this was worse than he had imagined.

…Now what?

* * *

Suguru shifted the cell phone to his other shoulder and scowled absently at the papers the agent was shuffling in front of him. The agent quietly pointed out another aspect of the contract and then flinched when Suguru glared. On the other line, across the ocean, Sybil was screaming.

"WHAT? You are such a moron!" she yelled. Flushing, the agent handed over the papers and scurried away.

"What can I say?" he drawled, not looking at the reports. "According to you, I am wonderfully skilled in that area."

"I can't believe you! God, I had thought you had some sense in you, boy-o, what happened to it?" Her tone was particularly vicious when she added, "Did that bastard Seguchi steal your brain or something?"

Suguru let her rant, taking stock of the small apartment. Bedroom, bathroom, pantry, kitchen, front room…the rent wasn't ridiculously high, it was close to NG Studios and his home, the manager was a rather kind old man and his wife…this place was as probably as close to perfect as he could get. What else would he look for in an apartment?

Ignoring the rather traitorous part of his mind that insisted on whispering, "Hiro," he looked blankly down at the contracts the agent had given him. He would have to wait a few days on signing the contracts due to having to take out some money from his accounts to cover the required down payment for the first three months' rent, but other than that, everything would be just inline.

A rather shrill curse from Sybil broke his daze. "What?" he asked calmly.

"You idiot," she hissed. "He tells you he loves you and you _run_? You still haven't explained the thought process behind that, Fujisaki."

"I was in it for sex," he replied. "Nothing more."

"Bullshit," she called. "You told me you love him."

"I do," he answered sharply. "It's just…" and then his words all dried up because he had no explanation whatsoever for his actions.

He could almost see Sybil rolling her eyes. "You were scared," she enunciated, the edges of her words bit clear and sharp.

"I was not," he automatically defended and then let the thought sink deep. Perhaps…

"So much, at one time. All your dreams come true," she sang lightly. "Anybody would be scared. It's just the whole running away thing that I'm not understanding."

"You know the whole morning after routine," he said quietly.

She snorted. "Nuh uh, don't try to pull that shit," she retorted. "You need to go back there, apologize for running away, and confess your love." A pause. "Get your act together, Fujisaki!"

"I'm trying. Just—"

"Stop trying," she shouted, interrupting. "Do you love him?"

Those words didn't want to go past his teeth; he, however, knew the answer deep down and steeled himself against the realization.

"Don't talk yourself out of this," she ordered sternly. "You love him; you know that, I know that. He doesn't know that, which is the issue here. Go and tell him."

"I can't," he breathed.

Sybil's voice quieted, her tone striving for something akin to serenity. "Yes, you can. And you will." She sighed. "Give yourself a day to recoup and then go talk to him. Live happily ever after and all that rot."

He ignored the fast thumping of his heart and sting of tears. "Remind me why called you?"

Now she was laughing, though it was light, under her breath. "Because you know I'm the only one to kick your ass into gear. Now go on, boy-o. Call me when you make-up."

"Yeah. Sure." The dial tone went and he hung up. Standing quietly now, the agent slowly made his way back to Suguru. Pushing his revelations away for now, Suguru turned to the man and started flipping through the contract.

* * *

Hiro leaned back against the couch and shifted the telephone. "I told him," he repeated.

"You told him?" Ayaka asked softly. Her words were almost hesitant, as if she knew he was pulling this story out as if it were a splinter.

"Yeah."

"And what did he do?" Her voice was even and unhurried. It was almost as if she knew how the story would end. Though he actually calling her and telling her said a lot about the events…

"He distracted me with sex," Hiro informed her bluntly.

She brushed past the new information easily. "And then what?"

The next words hurt, binding his chest and stealing his breath. "He was gone this morning."

"Hmm," she murmured. "Have you tried calling him and talking about it?"

The rush of pessimism was like a shot of acid. "What good would that do? He was clear on how he wanted things to go." He focused on the white of the ceiling as if it could erase the image of Suguru's expression, cold and shuttered, from his mind.

"The information may have been a shock for him, Hiro." She paused. "He may have run because he was scared," she offered.

"He may have run because he had only wanted sex from this," Hiro retorted.

"Hiro," she warned. "You were romantic with me. Think, there was no way he would have known you felt like that—no dating, no real courting, no slow progression of feelings; there would only be the sudden shift from one state to another. It would be disorienting for anybody." There was another pause, the silence tense. "It seems as if he didn't even let you finish speaking about it."

"So, what? I should go, hunt him down, try to talk to him?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes," she said simply. "Have an actual conversation with him. See what he really wants." He could hear her smile in her voice. "He may even like you back, Hiro. So you go find him and I'll just talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure," he replied hollowly. The dial tone went on for a long moment as he just stared blankly at the phone. Then he clicked the telephone off and stood, placing it back in the cradle.

Did he really want to try this again? He did love Suguru and he had tried so hard with Ayaka…would it kill him to try so hard with Suguru? No, he figured, it wouldn't kill him; it would simply break his heart. He weighed that with the thought of Suguru, happily curled up in his bed as they easily discussed music, food, family, friends, life…love.

Shaking his head at his own stupidity (or was it insanity?), he grabbed his jacket and keys and walked out his apartment building. The bike was a steady presence against him as he drove, heading towards the Fujisaki household. When he got there, he strapped the helmet to the seat and then walked up to the door, resignedly knocking on it.

A woman answered it. When she saw him, she raised her brows and said, "Nakano-san, Suguru-san isn't here at the moment."

Hiro tried not to rub his hands nervously together. He couldn't back out of this now. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

The woman threw a shifty glance over her shoulder. "Uh, hold on a second," she said and shut the door on him.

When the door opened again, it was different woman. Her dark hair was up in an elegant twist and there was a certain cold delicacy to her eyes and mouth. She looked over him—up-down, up-down, as if she were measuring him— and then she arched one eyebrow. "Keiko-san told me it was a young man waiting for Suguru, but she did not say it was you, Nakano-san."

"I apologize if I'm intruding," he said politely. "I really need to talk to Suguru and I was wondering when he'd be back."

"Can it not wait until you go back to work?" she asked lightly.

"It's not about work," he replied.

She tilted her head in a familiar movement, one corner of her mouth tipping up into a slight smile. "If that's so, then you can come in and wait for him here. He called a little bit ago and said he'd be home soon."

She directed him into the beautiful home and ushered him into the parlor. When she sat in one of the chairs, dark eyes still on him, he hazarded, "You're Suguru's mother, aren't you? Fujisaki-san?"

Her smile was more genuine now. "Call me Chihiro, please." And then her smile went thin and sharp. "Now I just have a few questions about your intentions…" she started.

Hiro almost started floundering, but then the woman that had answered the door—Keiko-san—poked her head into the room. "Fujisaki-san," she said lightly. "There's a phone call for you in the dining room."

Chihiro-san's irritation was quickly hidden. Yet she stood, dipped her head in a slight nod, and said to Hiro, "Stay here and wait for Suguru. Keiko-san will tell him you're here when he arrives." And then she swept out of the room as if she were a queen. Keiko-san tipped him a conspiratorial wink and a small smile before also vanishing.

Hiro leaned further back into the chair and settled in to wait, already rearranging words and sentences in his head.


	12. Let It Rain

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** Yes. I've kidnapped Murakami-san. She signed over all the rights to me. Furreal like.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **Original lyrics: "kissed her and took all she got"; changed for the obvious reasons. Also, my written notes for this chapter: CONFRONTATION, CONFRONTATION, DRAMA, CONFRONTATION. And as always, thanks for all the reviews and alert notifications! OMG ONE CHAPTER LEFT (which should be up super soon, I think!)! In light of the whole one-chapter-left-thing, are there any plot points I have seemed to leave out? Any questions? Any characters or issues I haven't resolved? …Wow, this is a long author's note.

**Chapter 12: **Let It Rain

"…_kissed (him) and took all (he) got."_

Suguru shut the door behind him and leaned against it, sighing. The deal with the apartment was all squared away, now he just needed to put the money up for it. But first there was the rather frightening prospect of finding Hiro and confessing all his wrongs and faults and imperfections. Biting his lower lip contemplatively, he imagined him going to Hiro, confessing all, and then….and then…and then what?

This was already so far from the plan, everything skewed. Maybe, just maybe, things would work out for the best. He'd confess to Hiro and Hiro would accept everything and then they would live. Not happily ever after, no, because they were people, humans, and they were bound to fight at some point, but forever was good enough on its own, although even that seemed impossible and out of reach. However, the thought left him feeling happy and bubbly, all his thoughts fuzzy with fantasy, as if he had just taken a sip of some rather good champagne.

The quiet shuffle of feet on the floor brought his attention back to reality. Keiko-san rounded the corner and smiled at him. "How did apartment hunting go?"

"I found a place I like," he replied. "I just need to get the down payment."

"Well, that's good." Then she paused, her smile going a tad wider. "There's a visitor for you in the parlor."

Frowning, Suguru pushed off the door and walked over to the parlor, wondering just who would need to see him on a weekend. And then he opened the doors, saw exactly who was sitting there, and froze. Hiro looked up from the table and gave him a wan smile. "Hey, Suguru," he said softly.

All those thoughts of confessing each and every thing fled from Suguru's mind. The only thing he wanted to do was to turn tail, be an absolute coward, and run, flee the crime scene. Hiro wouldn't accept all his faults; Hiro would scorn him, throw everything in his face, outright reject him…

Then Hiro stood, strong hands hiding in his pockets, that same smile still thin and trembling on his face, and warmth suffused him. This was Nakano Hiroshi here, not some cruel stranger.

Ignoring the shivery tremble that raced up his spine, he focused completely on the doors as he shut them: the feel of the cool metal beneath his path, the striations of pale paint, the creak of the old hinges. Then he turned back to Hiro. Hiro's gaze was hot, heavy all over him, and he pressed back against the doors at the scrutiny. "Hello," he said back.

And then there was silence, tense with all the unsaid things and feelings between them. Hiro shifted his weight with a creak of floorboards and cleared his throat. "I—that is, I mean, we…" and he stopped and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. He cleared his throat for a second time and blurted out, "You left this morning."

Suguru took in a deep breath and outright lied, shuffling past his emotions with an ease from long practice. "I had an appointment with an agent. I'm looking for apartments."

Hiro stared at him for a long moment and dipped his head down. "Oh? I just thought after what I told you…" He hesitated.

Suguru's first thought was to say, "I have no idea what you mean," and to brush it all off. No. No, no, no. This stomach clenching fear, he could get past it. The throat locking terror, he could push it away. He wanted this. He loved Hiro, god, did he, but he just needed to…let go.

Another deep, slow breath in. "No. Like I said, I just had an appointment." Okay. Not exactly what he needed to say, but it wasn't a denial of what Hiro had said.

(_I'm in love with you_.)

God, how could he have even thought to let that go? Was he daft or something? Just…getting those words out, that was the problem here.

Hiro gave him another long look. The dark eyes narrowed at him and Hiro slowly walked around the table, stopping only feet away from him. "Suguru, do you remember what I told you?" His words were slow, careful.

He did, but he couldn't say anything. His lungs were too small for his body and those words were only thought bubbles.

Hiro's expression shifted from caution to something completely different. Hiro took those few last steps forward, raising his arms to box Suguru in. That something-completely-different on his face was kindness and softness and warmth. Affection and heat and _love_. Suguru shut his eyes against it and turned his head, feeling the smooth paint beneath his cheek.

Hiro's mouth brushed the shell of his ear, warm breath preceding an even warmer whisper. "Suguru, I love you." The warmth vanished and then a soft mouth was on his neck, gently trailing kisses along his skin. "I love you," came the repeated whisper. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

Suguru let out a shaky breath. Every nerve was lit, highlighted by glowing fire and sparking electricity. His breath was gone, stolen by kindly words. Butterflies had completely taken over his body, fluttering wings and soft air composing his skin and muscles and organs. He opened his eyes, gaze focused on the adjacent wall. There was a painting there, a spray of delicate purple flowers against a backdrop of snow.

The soft mouth skimmed up the line of his neck, burning warm beneath his ear. "How can you not see that?" Hiro murmured. Then he drew back, looking down at him with warm eyes. "I'm completely and madly in love with you."

He could do this. He could…

He was wrong. He couldn't do this.

Hiro watched him for a long moment and then his expression cracked. There was pain settling on that lovely face, pain he had caused, damn him. Space invaded the warm pocket they had created as Hiro backed up. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I thought, maybe…" He shook his head, eyes going down to the ground. "So it was all about the sex for you?" The question sounded empty, blank.

No, no, it hadn't been, but those words could not get past his teeth.

Hiro took another step backwards and suddenly that space between them was too too much. Suguru stumbled forward, catching Hiro's arm. Digging his fingers into the soft skin and strong muscle, he dragged Hiro back to him, pressing against that beautiful body and kissing that wonderful mouth.

The kiss was frantic, almost desperate, because those words still weren't coming and this was all he knew. He skimmed one hand along the broad shoulder and clenched it in the thick hair at the nape of Hiro's neck, holding Hiro to him. Hiro must have known him better than he thought because the kiss somehow slowly changed from the frenetic thing Suguru pressed on to him to gentled, brushing kisses.

One of Hiro's hands had slipped underneath his shirt, palm warm against the small of his back; Hiro's free hand was a warm curve on the back of his neck. That broken expression had disappeared somewhere beneath the kindly, concerned look that was now on his face.

Pressing his cheek to one shoulder, Suguru curled his arms around Hiro's form. "I'm sorry," he murmured to the soft cloth of Hiro's shirt. "I'm so so sorry. It's not just about the sex. It's…it's never been just about the sex." Would the betrayed look on Hiro's face completely shatter him? He shut his eyes against the possibility and pressed his mouth to the line of neck.

Slender fingers, gentle and feather light, drew though his hair. "Then what was it about?" The question held concern and kindness, but there was more than affectionate warmth to the quiet voice; there, underlining the words, was the heat of desire and passion.

He couldn't do it. He had to do it.

"I love you," Suguru whispered. Settled against the nape of his neck, the gentle fingers twitched. "Not just now, but before…before everything…"

The hand on his back pressed him close so all he felt was the warmth and strength of Hiro's body. "Before everything?"

"That first time," Suguru pushed out. "Even then, I loved you. You came to me for rebound, I went to you in the hopes that, well…but, but then, I did and I had and I still do."

A long exhale ruffled his hair and tickled against his cheek. "So you felt that even before you left for New York?" A pause and the body under his cheek tensed. "Was that why you left? Because of…everything?"

It felt like he was pulling shards of glass out of his skin, the flush of blood dulling the inevitable pain. "Yes. I was in love with you and so stupid and blind."

"No," Hiro gentled. "Not stupid or blind. Just…too composed for your own good, sometimes. It doesn't help that I was oblivious as hell."

Suguru's eyes fluttered open and he took in the stretch of pale skin and the spill of auburn hair. "So…you're okay with that?" he asked hesitantly. He looked up and met the warm brown eyes.

A smile turning up the corners of his mouth, Hiro took a step back and looked down at him. "Why wouldn't I be? I told you I loved you." The hand curved around his neck skimmed upwards and drew along his cheek, cradling his jaw; a thumb smoothed over his cheekbone, the touch light, lighting along nerve endings. "I may be blind myself sometimes or an idiot, but I love you." And he smiled, the expression of such joy and freedom and warmth that Suguru couldn't help pressing a kiss to that mouth.

Chuckling lightly, Hiro pulled back some. "Why did you leave this morning then? Was it just the appointment?" And there was that sly, clever look that Suguru had glimpsed.

"I was…" Suguru hesitated. His fears were silly, unfounded now, in light of all this.

"What?" Hiro prompted.

"It wasn't according to plan." He stopped, looked away, focused on the fragile blooms of purple in the painting on the wall. "This time, it was all supposed to be physical until you broke it off for some reason another. You weren't supposed to be in love with me and one day I would be broken-hearted again." He couldn't look at those sad brown eyes. "It wasn't supposed to go this way."

Hiro's voice was quiet again, the fingers of the hand on his back pressing hard into his skin. "You were just going to let me go if I didn't do something like this?" A pause as the fingers relaxed again though Hiro's voice was still tight and strained.

Uncomfortable, Suguru shifted nervously. "That's how it was supposed to go. I…I was just going to let you be when I came back." Suddenly, he laughed, the sound edged. "I wasn't even supposed to come back. Tohma pushed me into that. I was going to be composed again when I came back and you were going to be a colleague, nothing more, nothing less."

He groaned, low in the back of his throat, remembering his easy defeat. "And then you were there and you were so beautiful and just within reach…"

"So being hot has its uses?" Yes, there was a laugh there, but it wasn't mocking.

Suguru glanced up, all the sadness and heartbreak draining away. "Yes, it does." He couldn't help his smile. Yep, he was back to feeling floaty and fuzzy and happy again, all champagne-like once more. Maybe they could drain him, bottle him and all his thought bubbles up, make the perfect champagne. "I love you," he said again softly, wonderingly. Strange, how he could say it so easily now.

"And I, you," Hiro replied, leaning down for another kiss.


	13. Maybe, This Time

**Title:** Maybe, This Time

**Disclaimer:** No, yo. This is not mine.

**Summary: **(sequel to "Bye Bye Baby") In America Suguru tried to leave everything behind. In Japan Hiro couldn't let go of what had been. What happens when Suguru returns to Bad Luck?

**Author's Notes: **OMG THANK YOU EVERYBODY WHO REVIEWED OR FAVVED OR PUT THIS ON ALERT. YOU MAKE MY LIFE. Last chapter here, people, and I hope you liked this ride! I know I did.

**Chapter 13: **Maybe, This Time

"_But don't you think that possibly, this time, it's different?"_

Hiro idly strummed his guitar, watching as Shuichi went off on a ranting tangent about something or other. The vocalist flailed his arms and quite easily dodged the bullets flying his way. When K stood threateningly, lightening of doom crackling behind him and shining off the barrel of his gun, Shuichi grinned blindingly and ran off, a dust cloud trailing behind him. Growling curses under his breath, K followed; with a distressed cry, Sakano took off behind them, yelling something about lawsuits.

Smiling, Hiro looked over to Suguru. To think, it had been two weeks since everything had taken a turn for the better. The drama, all the hidden tension, had been cleared between them and everything was…perfectly wonderful. Suddenly, Suguru looked up from his notes and met his eyes.

"Hi," Suguru said quietly, a smile curving up his mouth.

"Hi," Hiro teasingly replied.

The curve of Suguru's smile shifted, became a slight smirk. Stretching his arms high above his head, Suguru stood, back arching inwards; his shirt lifted the slightest bit, his stomach a slice of pale skin between the band of his jeans and the hem of his shirt. Hiro wanted to simply go over there and lick and kiss and bite all along that slice of skin, but then Suguru put his arms down and sent him a heated, wicked look and Hiro knew he had been played.

When Hiro turned away with an overly exaggerated scowl, Suguru laughed lightly and came over to him, stepping into the small space between Hiro's legs and the table. With the slender body right before him, he had to put his guitar to the side, just in case. His thought was rewarded by Suguru straddling his lap, crossing his arms over Hiro's shoulders.

Suguru leaned forward, his mouth only inches away from Hiro's. Suguru's laugh tickled his skin, so he moved those few inches, kissing the mouth that was so familiar to him now. Suguru opened to him, tongue smoothing along flat teeth, brushing the sensitive roof the mouth, patterning the delicate inside. Suguru's fingers curved along his neck, brushed up, and curled in his hair. That slice of pale skin below the hem of Suguru's shirt was still mocking him so he traced his fingers along the hem, eventually just sticking his hands underneath and pressing his palms flat to the warm back, pressing Suguru even closer.

Then the door slammed open and a high shriek pierced their warm bubble. Suguru jerked back abruptly at the sound, eyes narrowing in a glare. Shuichi, K, and Sakano stood in the doorway; K was grinning lecherously at them, his eyebrows waggling in innuendo, Shuichi was beaming happily, and Sakano was weeping heavily, wailing something about publicity and death.

Bounding over to them, Shuichi threw his arms around them in a hug. "Oh, you two are so cute! It's love, right right right?"

Squished together as they were, Hiro could only get out a, "Yeah, Shu," before his air supply ran out.

Shuichi grinned widely at them and pulled away, letting them get some air back. He threw up his hands in joy. "YAY!" he cried, spinning to some internal music.

All signs of lechery gone for the moment, K just _looked_ at them. "You think we could use this for publicity?" he asked.

Sakano, still sniffing back tears, looked up at the American manager. "I suppose we could," he said sadly. "However, such a thing would probably not be recommended. The publicity is more likely to decrease." He ended the sentence on a moan, looking ready for ritual suicide.

K narrowed his eyes at them. "No, think about it: an all gay band?" The familiar maniac light was back in his eyes. "I think this can go very well. Just…" and he trailed off into hurried whispers to Sakano, quite obviously plotting some new and horrifying acts for the band. Sakano just let out another wet, sad moan and put up with his fate.

Beaming once more, Shuichi bundled them into another embrace, ignoring both of their curses.

Later, after work, Hiro sped out of the lot on his motorbike, Suguru pressed up tight against him. The roar of the bike was familiar, as was Suguru's warmth, but the way those slender hands skimmed along his chest and went to other places was not. By then time they got to the Fujisaki household, Hiro was ready to simply pin Suguru to a wall and have his wicked way with him.

Suguru just gave him a slight, too-innocent smile, grabbed his hand, and tugged him inside. Only two weeks and he was meeting the parents. (His idea , yes, after meeting Fujisaki Chihiro once, but that didn't mean he wasn't scared.) A sliver of fear shot straight through his gut, but he was able to push it away with a squeeze of Suguru's hand. That too-innocent smile widened some, the brown eyes sparking with happiness, and then easily pulled him into the large dining room. The Fujisaki parents were already there, but there were no serving dishes on the table. And there was Seguchi Tohma, sitting there as if it were perfectly okay to be there. That sliver of fear came back, only now it was twisting his stomach around into horrible, horrible knots.

Face composed, Suguru bowed to his family. "Mother, father, cousin, this is Nakano Hiroshi. Hiro, this is Fujisaki Chihiro, Fujisaki Akito, and of course, Seguchi Tohma."

Hiro bowed politely to them. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." Though that wasn't exactly truthful about Tohma; that man was a cold bastard and he always would be.

The two men gave him cold smiles while the mother's was cheerier, warmer. "Sit, Hiroshi-san," she said, gesturing to the seat across from her…which was right next to the head of the table where Akito-san sat.

Oh, fuck.

Anxiety trembling along his nerves, he sat, Suguru sitting next to him.

As if it were a sign, servants started pouring into the room, placing dishes in front of them. Miso soup was placed in front of them, steam rising of it in tendrils. Tea was poured, one lone servant—the smiling woman who had helped him with Chihiro-san—placing a dish of honey by Suguru's elbow.

Chihiro smiled at them, eyes going over to her son. "Suguru, how is the new apartment faring?"

Focused on fixing his tea, Suguru took a moment to reply. "Just fine. The neighbors and landlord are kind and there seem to be no issues with the apartment itself."

Akito-san nodded slowly, stirring his soup idly. "'Seem' you say," he harrumphed. "Just wait. Issues will start springing up soon enough and then you'll have to do something about them."

The teacup hid the frown Suguru wore from his father. But when the teacup went back down to the table, he was wearing a cold smile. "Of course. But I have the money and the knowledge on how to deal with those issues."

Akito-san raised his eyebrows at his son. "Well, after a year on your own, you are bound to know those kinds of things," he conceded. "See? It was good that you went to XMR for that year. A good idea." He gave another harrumph and focused on his soup. "Just like I said."

Suguru took a moment to sip his soup, obviously searching for a response. Then he smiled coolly and said, "You always have good ideas," he said archly.

"His manager, Cavanaugh-san, seemed to like him well enough," Tohma put in to Akito-san.

Akito-san nodded over his soup. "Yes, my boy did well in America. Went off on his own and made his own name." His gaze suddenly came up and zeroed in on Hiro. "What about you Hiroshi-san?"

What about him? How was he supposed to answer that question? "I am the guitarist in Bad Luck," he said uneasily.

"And your parents?" he asked.

Oh, this probably wasn't going to go over well with the stern Fujisaki parent. "They wanted me to be a doctor. But my best friend, Shuichi, was the one who created Bad Luck. He had thought I would stay with the band and he convinced me to come back to it."

Those dark brows lowered. "So you just followed your friend?"

"No," he replied quickly. "I love playing the guitar. Being a doctor had never been my idea. I had always planned on being in the band."

Akito-san pushed away his empty bowl and stared hard at Hiro. Then the stern expression broke for the slightest upward movement of the corners of his lips. Was…was he actually smiling? Suguru's wide-eyed expression showed that even he was shocked at this. "Loyal to your wants," Akito-san said. "I like it. Now, I hear that you're dating my boy?"

Damn. Hadn't he just gotten past the firing squad? "Yes, sir."

The servants slipped into the room and took away their dishes.

"And you're going to treat him right?"

"Yes, sir," Hiro replied.

"Good," Akito-san replied. He ignored his wife's quick glare, but he couldn't miss the unladylike elbow in his gut. "Oh," he gasped. "Yes, yes," he started, throwing a narrow-eyed glance to Chihiro-san. "Do you love Suguru?"

How could they even ask that? "Of course, sir," he answered softly.

Bearing dishes, the servants came back in, placing the plates in front of them. The conversation moved to safer topics, even Tohma being kind as they ate. It was…weird but wonderful all the same because that meant they all approved. The dinner went well-enough, Akito-san even patting him on the shoulder and Chihiro-san giving him a light hug as they left.

However, Tohma pulled him to the side, waving to Suguru as he moved to the motorbike. "Now, Hiroshi-san, I really do not have to say that this will not affect your place in the band." Expect he did because he was wearing that thin, cold smile and Hiro was not reassured at all. "But, I do have to say that if you hurt my cousin—"

Hiro quickly interrupted, not wanting to hear the creative threats Tohma could think up. "Seguchi-san, you don't have to worry. I won't hurt Suguru. And even if I did, you'd probably have to hunt down my body first because I'm pretty sure Suguru has first dibs on killing me if I break his heart." That much was true. That first night after, Suguru had spent the night and he had spilled everything in a hurried, pained rush. Hiro would do anything before hurting Suguru as he had done already.

Tohma's placid smile widened. "As long as we're clear here, Hiroshi-san."

"Crystal," Hiro answered and moved over to Suguru and the bike. He could feel's Tohma stare, a pricking, prickly thing, on his back, but he ignored it in favor of putting on his helmet and getting on the bike.

* * *

Suguru put the cell phone back down and rolled over. Hiro's ceiling was blank, plain, but his bed was soft and wonderful. He curled under the blankets, settling comfortably on the pillows. A few minutes passed and then the bed dipped as Hiro lied on it.

"Who was it?" Suguru asked, wiggling his way into Hiro's arms.

Chuckling, Hiro pulled him close. "Ayaka. She wanted to know how things were going. I called her after you left that morning." "That morning" needed no explanation; it was if the words needed capitals because they both understood what he meant. "She's excited for us, hopes it works out well."

"Didn't she date you?"

"Yes, but she has a boyfriend she met in…study group, I think it was. His name's Kojiro." Hiro leaned down and pressed a light kiss to Suguru's bare shoulder. "And who were you talking to?"

"Well, Tohma called me really quickly to tell me that the reporter, Kishimoto, has been reprimanded by his managers and got a week's suspension without pay. Tohma threatened more, but the managers scrambled about this and said it'd be taken care of." Done, Suguru became more concerned with arching against Hiro and curling his hands in the long auburn hair.

"And?" Hiro dropped another few kisses, trailing upwards.

"And I called Sybil. I…also called her that morning." After time it would fade, but now, it was still fresh. "I had to tell her everything. She wishes us luck and says that if we ever come out to the public, she wants to organize it." He paused as he kissed Hiro softly. "She said to not worry about Tohma and she'd take care of it."

"Hmmm…." Hiro murmured, more focused on divesting Suguru of his pajama pants. "And would Tohma really listen to her?"

Sliding his hands under Hiro's shirt and pulling it over's Hiro, Suguru took a moment to reply. "Why are we still talking about Tohma?" he asked and rubbed up against Hiro.

"Good point," Hiro conceded and curled a hand around Suguru's jaw, tipping the lovely face up to his to share a kiss.


End file.
